After The Story
by Sepol
Summary: Good story with lame title. Basically this is what happens after the end of the game to Spira... to the people, to the places, to Yuna... to Tidus, maybe. I'll see what happens as I write. Reviews are apreciated, I love critics!
1. Existence Terminus

Part I

**Chapter 1**

* * *

It was done. 

After that final strike, it was finally done.

Yu Yevon(or whatever that was left of him) was dead; dead for good.

She couldn't believe; this was like one of her dreams came true. No, it was more than that... Her dream since she decided to become a Summoner was to defeat Sin, but she would never think that she would came out of that alive, nor did she believe that she would be the one to vanish Sin forever.

None of her guardians could believe it too. None, except one. He knew she could do it, she was strong enough, and after all those twisted turns of fate during the Pilgrimage, he was sure she would do it.

A lot of things went to everyone's mind during those few seconds after the final strike.

A world without Sin; a smiling future ahead; a thousand years of suffering gone... She also thought about him; and he thought about her. She was happy; he... wasn't sure. Of course he was happy for her and Spira, but he was also in agony, knowing what was happening to him.

She then started to do the sending (probably her last action as a Summoner); everyone watched as the Aeons tuned into pyreflies, and everyone saw the way Sin exploded, turning night to day for a few seconds. Somewhere in Spira, the faith were turning to stone and ceasing their dreaming.

Then, it started.

His hands were becoming immaterial. Then his arms, then his entire body. He watched it as everyone else was too alienated with Sin's death to notice. She watched too. She shook his head, trying to deny what she was seeing.

- No...

- Yuna, I have to go

She still didn't want to accept it and kept shocking his head, wishing she didn't heard what he said.

- I'm sorry I couldn't show you Zanarkand.

He never felt that bad in his life. Not for himself, but for her. He wished she stopped looking to him that way, like she was dying with him. He walked away and looked at her for the last time. His heart was racing with agony as he tried to have enough strength to abandon Spira, her, his whole existence.

- Goodbye.

At this time he already got everyone's attention, and no one was really understanding what was happening. They only knew it was bad. She followed his movements with her eyes as he walked to the airship deck's border.

He was really leaving.

She couldn't accept it; she thought about their pilgrimage together, about the wonderful things he told her about "his Zanarkand", about that moments in the Macalania Spring. No, it was too much to let it go just like that.

Without thinking, she just ran to him; she run hopping he would catch her in his arms and say it was everything okay, that it was all over, that he was going to stay...

Too big was her pain as she passed through him and fell to the cold floor; her pain was more emotional that physical. This same pain was being shared with him, as he saw her desperation.

She was still on the floor; she didn't have the strength to get up. It was so unfair! He fought for her, fought so that in the end she could still be alive. And his fight did worth it. But she... she was there, he was dying, and there was nothing anyone could do. She felt like everything she had done during the Pilgrimage, every fight, every step... was worthless.

She didn't care about Sin anymore, she only cared about him; and he was dying.

Pyreflies were dancing around her, confirming his undeniable fate. She decided she wouldn't spend her last moments with him alive lying on the floor. She united all of her strength to finally get up. She wanted to say something, something that transmitted the pain she was feeling, how much she wanted him to stay, something to say thanks' to all the good moments...

- I love you.

It was all she could say.

He turned to her, surprised. Not that he didn't know the way she felt about him, but to hear it from her was too emotional. A lot of different thoughts were flowing on his mind. One part of him was thankful for those words; other part wished that she haven't said them; it was only making everything more difficult. Every single second he stood there looking at her felt like a knife being buried on his body as he realized that those precious seconds were the last moments they would spend together.

He got close to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Although his body was fading, they could feel each other's touch. Not physically, but emotionally; they could feel each other trough that strong feeling that links two people's soul to a point where they didn't have to be close to one another to feel the other person, that feeling that was transmitted through that overused but often misused word called love.

If depended on them, they could stay like that for eternity, but both knew that it was impossible. With pain, he broke that embrace and walked through her, without looking back, and started running to the edge of the airship's deck.

And then he jumped to the end of his existence.

* * *

_End of Chapter 1_

Woooo! 1st chapter! Alright, I've been wanting to write this fanfiction for ages, but I was too lazy to do it... but I finally started! D This 1st chapter is just my interpretation of the final scene of the game... The 2nd will have "original material" P.

Please note that my mother tongue is not english, so, if you see any gramatical or sintactical errors, please let me know!

Oh, and the disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy X...

So... that's it. Feel free to leave a review, I love critics xD


	2. Right After

I

**Chapter 2 **

* * *

The guardians were sitting around the airship's main room, each one lost in their own thoughts. They thought that, after defeating Sin, they would be celebrating the victory, making a lot of noise and jumping in joy. But they were too chocked to even think about having a party; they were happy because of Sin's definitive death of course, but they were also confused about what happened in the airship's deck a few hours ago. First, it was Auron. Sir Auron,... an unsent? But what was disturbing everyone mainly wasn't the legendary guardian, it was the newest guardian. He couldn't be an unsent, he had already witness some sendings during the Pilgrimage, so... Why did Tidus faded with Sin and the Aeons? did he knew he would fade after they defeat Sin? if yes, why didn't he tell anyone about it? why did he accepted it like there was nothing he could do to stop it? and what was that with Yuna? why was Yuna still alone is her room? was she okay?

Yuna, she was still locked in one of the airship's bedrooms. Of course they were all very sad because of Tidus' mysterious death, but she was feeling that pain more than the others. They tried to get Yuna out of her isolation, but she kept saying that she wanted to be alone.

The only time Wakka saw someone reacting like that was when Chappu died and Lulu isolated herself for sometime... Wait, maybe she and Tidus...

- Hey, ahm... don't you think that Yuna and Tidus were like,... more than friends?... For her to be reacting like that and that scene in the deck?... I don't know, maybe... - he broke the ice with those unsure words

- Of course they were "more that friends"! Isn't it obvious right now? - Rikku seemed angry when she said it

- Alright, calm down, ya? I'm just confused because, you know, they didn't show it to us... I would never guess that they had that relationship!...

- Why not?

- I don't know! Why should they fall in love with each other? Yuna was focused on her pilgrimage, Tidus was trying to go back to "his Zanarkand"...

- Oh, shut up, you two! - Lulu was beginning to get annoyed with that conversation. - I don't know how did they fell in love, and it doesn't matter. He is dead, and she is suffering. Let her be, she needs her time alone right now; and believe me, I know what I'm saying, I know the pain she is feeling. And now excuse me, I'm going to sleep.

And with that Lulu left the room.

- Well, I'm sleepy too. Good night.

Then it was Rikku who left the main room. Not that she was really sleepy, but she didn't want to talk about Tidus, Sin, or anything related with that right now. The room got silent; too silent.

- And what about you, Kimahri?... You haven't said a word yet. - Wakka tried to break the ice.

- Kimahri... doesn't know.

Wakka was surprised with that answer, not only because he didn't really expect to year anything from the Ronso, but also because that was the fist time Kimahri was unsure; or at least it was the first time he showed that. For some moments the room was again ruled by silence, until Kimahri decided he was going to sleep too.

Wakka was then alone in the room, still sitting and thinking. He became gradually sleepy, and he ended up falling asleep in the room's sofa.

-----------------

She woke up in the middle of the night; according to the clock there were 3:27 AM. She sat up on the bed's border holding her head in her hands. She had fell asleep crying. In fact, the only thing she did after entering her room yesterday was to cry.

She could have thought about a lot of things: about her victory, about her guardians, about Spira. But the only thing she could think about was Tidus; and the only thing she could do when thinking about Tidus was to cry. Cry for him, and for all the broken dreams she had about her life after defeating Sin. She dreamed about a new life with him; a new life where she didn't have to worry about Sin or about making the people of Spira happy; a new life where she didn't have to pretend she was happy... But now those dreams had faded away...

She tried not to think about it. She got up, since she couldn't sleep anymore, and remembered she haven't eaten since Sin's defeat. She wasn't really hungry, but at least she could do something more than just get depressed.

She went to the main room, where she forced herself to eat something. A glass of milk and a piece of bread. Yuna sat on a chair and started eating. Then she noticed that Wakka was deeply sleeping in the sofa. He looked alright; why shouldn't he? Sin was dead, right? She wished it was that simple to her.

She began to feel sleepy again. And, before she could drink the whole glass, she fell asleep there.

-----------------

"Where... am I?"

* * *

_End of Chapter 2_


	3. Even if it Hurts

I

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Wakka woke up a little dazed as he realized he had fallen asleep in the couch. He got up, yawned, and went to get some food for breakfast.

"Yuna?"

He saw her sleeping in a chair right next to a table with a half full glass of milk and an half eaten piece of bread. He wondered if he should wake her, but before he could decide anything, Rikku entered the room.

- Do you know where Yuna is? She isn't in her room and I can't find her anywh... oh...

By that time Yuna had already woke up with all the noise and was scratching her eyes.

- G-good morning, Yunie.

- Hmm? - she wasn't completely wake and got little confused about what was happening. "I must have fallen asleep in here..."

- Good morning...

That was a good sign. Yuna had got out of her room and was talking again, Rikku thought.

- Everything's alright? - Wakka wasn't sure if he should have asked that.

- Yeah,...

- Humm... are ya going to eat that? - Wakka asked, referring to the bread in the table

- I guess not...

- Okay then. - And said that he swallowed the piece of bread.

Then Lulu entered the main room.

- Hey, it seems that Yuna got... – she stopped walking and stared at Yuna for a few seconds - Oh, here you are.

- Good morning Lulu...

- Good morning. Are you alright?

- Yeah, stop asking me that... – Yuna was starring at the glass of milk.

- What?... - Lulu gave Yuna a confused look

- I'm okay. Don't worry about me. - Yuna got up and assumed the posture she always had during the pilgrimage; she seemed sure of herself and ready to everything. - We got… to tell the people of Spira about what just happened. We got to let them know that they are free from Sin…

This made everyone in the room confused. Just yesterday she was isolating herself, trying to deal with her loss, and now she is back to that strong and confident summoner they knew from the Pilgrimage (the only difference was that she couldn't summon Aeons anymore!).

- Yep, that's right! - Rikku said with enthusiasm as she saw Yuna getting with her moral up again.

Soon everyone was already wake and doing all kinds of things: Wakka was organizing the stuff they had accumulated during the Pilgrimage (some items like potions, ethers, spheres, maps, etc.), Rikku was entertained with some machina, Lulu wasn't in the main room and Kimahri was just watching everything that alert pose he always has. But there was something missing... Tidus was missing. He used to help Wakka with the item's organization, or watched with curiosity Rikku as she fixed her machinas, or messed around with Lulu, and Yuna... she tried not to think about it and focused on what she was doing.

After lunch they started to work on a speech Yuna would say to the people of Spira on the next day. They did the text and decided that the best place so say it was in Luca's Blitzball Stadium. This lasted for the entire day and at the end of the day everyone went to their bed rooms to rest after a day of work.

No one dared to talk directly about Tidus, although his absence was disturbing to everyone in different ways.

-----------

Someone knocked in Yuna's bed room door.

- Come in...

Lulu entered the room and saw Yuna lying on her bed; not like she was going to sleep, it looked like she couldn't sleep actually. Yuna stood a few seconds with her eyes on the ceiling until she directed them to Lulu.

- What's up?...

- I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

Yuna directed his eyes again to the ceiling, and said after a few seconds:

- Yeah. I already told you could stop worrying about me, I'm fine.

- No you're not. How can you?

Yuna didn't answer.

- Yuna, we all saw you and Tidus on the deck, we already got that you and him were more than just friends.

- What's your point, Lulu?... - All the day Yuna tried not to bring Tidus to conversation, and now Lulu was with her just to talk about him?

- My point is: I know what is like to lose someone you love, and I'm sure you are not okay. I admire the strength you had today to face the day as you did...

- What did you expect me to do? To close myself here and cry all day? - Yuna interrupted her; the voice tone she used to say this left Lulu confused. She seemed angry and sad at the same time - I can't do that; if I do, I think I'd go insane.

- I know, but I still admire the way you are dealing with this. But I'm sure you aren't as fine as you look like; you have this talent to hide your feelings very well...

Yuna didn't move her eyes out of the ceiling. She didn't move any part of her body at all; like she was in deep thought. Lulu wasn't sure if she was still listening to her, but continued.

- If you think you can't say the speech tomorrow, that's okay; I understand and I'll talk to the others to...

- No! - In a sudden, Yuna sat up in the bed's border. Her eyes were now on Lulu's - I will do it. I don't care how I feel right now, I'll do it. Even if it hurts, I must... if I don't do it now, who knows when?... If I don't have enough strength now, I will never have it... - Her eyes were now shining with the tears she was trying to hold - Yes, it hurts a lot not having him here, and I'm always thinking of him, even if I don't appear like I'm doing it. Tomorrow's speech... will end this chapter of my life. I don't know what am I going to do after that, but I don't care right now. I just want to end this...

Tears were now rolling on Yuna's face. "The end of this chapter". For her, that speech would mean the end of the Pilgrimage. She was convicted that, after that, she would start a new life, without Sin, ... and without him.

---------------

He was as scared as confused. He had no idea about where he was, or how he had got there. He wasn't even sure if he was anywhere; he was supposed to be dead after all. But what scared him the most was that he couldn't see anything: no colours, no shadows, no light, no darkness.

Nothing at all.

* * *

_End of Chapter 3_

I have this chapter since 3 days ago but could't post it because of my stupid Internet provider... mad face ggrrr...

But, hey!, I got my first review! And I didn't have to beg for reviews like... 90 of the fics I read around here... Anyway, It's good to know that there is someone out there who is reading and enjoying this fic D

I'm already writting the fourth chapter, so I should post it in a couple of days or so... this is, if my Internet provider doesn't crash again of course --'


	4. Never Forget Them

I

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Staring at the sea...

"Will he come?"

Deep inside she still had this hope that Tidus would come back, somehow.

"You said you would come running..." So she went to one of the many docks of Luca, to whistle. But it didn't worth it, he was dead... and there she was, alone, empty.

"Is there hope for me after this is all over?"

She didn't know. After this speech, she had no idea of what to do.

Tidus should be the one there, alive; she should be dead, like every Summoner before her. It was all wrong. She was there, living and breathing; she should be happy. But she could give it all away, give her dreams, give her life, anything at any price...

"All of this for you."

But there was nothing she could do; she couldn't bring him back…. So, there she was, standing at the dock, looking at the endless sea. She felt the water, the sea, the entire ocean, pulling her close, whispering in her hear, the currents speaking to her, revealing her destiny, the one she had chosen... it was all becoming clear as she realized that there was nothing she could do; it was over. Now she just wished that that ocean, that currents would wash her away, make her disappear...

She gave a second whistle.

- Yuna, It is time. - Lulu appeared behind her, and they left the dock in direction of the Stadium.

--------------

"It is now"

She was at Luca's Stadium's backstage getting ready for the speech. She thought again about what she was going to say. The text was pretty simple; the people of Spira already knew about Sin's death, she would only confirm that Sin was gone forever, and give them some strength to begin this new era of Spira's history.

"New era..." That reminded her about last night's conversation with Lulu, and how she opened herself to her... And that lead to Tidus.

"You said that you would come running..." She stopped herself from thinking about that. "Focus on the text..."

- Ya ready? - Wakka looked cheerful

Deep breathe in. Deep breathe out.

- Yes - "No"

She entered in the stadium's podium. What she saw seemed surreal: the stadium was full, like the most important Blitzball game ever was about to begin; from her point of view, she could see the amount of people who couldn't enter in the stadium, and were around it, looking to the monitors.

- Everyone...everyone has lost something precious. Everyone here has lost homes, dreams, and friends. Everybody... Now, Sin is finally dead.

Yuna could swear the stadium walls were shaking when she said that; the people just went insane.

- Now, Spira is ours again. Working together... Now we can make new homes for ourselves, and new dreams. Although I know the journey will be hard, we have lots of time. Together, we will rebuild Spira. The road is ahead of us, so let's start out today.

She felt a little hypocrite: she was telling them to build new homes, new dreams, but she couldn't see herself doing that. "Not without you"

She was about to turn around and leave the podium; but she had to add a little thing...

- Just, one more thing... The people and the friends that we have lost, or the dreams that have faded...

She remembered everything. Besaid, the boat, Kilika, Luca, the tournament, operation Mi'hen, Guadosalam, Home, the fake marriage, the spring in Macalalia,... "Tidus..." She was struggling against tears. "Don't cry now... Just don't... not in front of them!"

- Never forget them.

--------------------

"Calm down... just open your eyes..."

Then he realized he had no eyes.

He tried to hear.

Then he realized he had no hears.

He tried to scream.

Then he realized he had no mouth.

He panicked. He tried to run, to anywhere... just run, far away, back to Spira.

Then he realized he had no body at all.

* * *

_End of Chapter 4_

Sorry I didn't post this earlier, but I'm still with some problems with my Internet server... Anyway, this chapter is about my point of view about the scene when Yuna gives her speech... it's a small chapter, I know, but there isn't much more to say about it.

Oh, and... Nine Inch Nails for the win! The first part of this chapter has some lines taken from one of the best musics in the world... "The Great Below" - Nine Inch Nails. Go hear it, now! xD Just kidding... but the music is really beautiful...


	5. Eternal

I

**Chapter 5**

* * *

She slowly walked back to the stadium's backstage, along with her guardians. The crowd behind them was wild. And good reasons they had to be like that; Sin was dead, forever. This time, it was not a temporary solution, a two or three years calm. This time, it was forever, eternally... Some people already called it the "Eternal Calm".

- Hm!... Fools...

Marckus, Josh and Celia were sitting at a table in a bar around the stadium, looking to the monitor. They were the only people there, since everyone was inside the stadium or at the streets, celebrating. Celia seemed angry with all that was happening; Josh a little disturbed, Marckus was just emotionless, lost in his own thoughts.

- How long do you think this would be? Two years? three?...

- Bah! The usual... It's always the same!

- Do you think so?... I don't know... this is weird, like...

- What? Don't tell me you believe in this shit! "Eternal Calm"? Come on! We already saw for ourselves that there is no such thing!

- Yeah, but,... the summoner did came out alive and...

- That must have been some smart trick she did. There's no way this is true.

- Well...

- She is right. - Marckus suddenly woke up from his thoughts.

- Of course I am. - and she gave Josh an "I-told-you" look

Marckus wasn't the leader, they had no leader; they acted as a team. But somewhy, maybe because he was the older, maybe because he was often right, Josh and Celia respected him as a leader.

- We already saw what moves Sin, and what makes him come back. Do you remember? Sin, Yevon, it's all a big lie. And I'm sure this "Eternal Calm" think is a big fake as well. This summoner,... Yuna, I think, she just must have found a way to make a deal with Yunalesca. Or maybe she could manage a way to stay in Spira even after her death.

- Are you suggesting that she is an unsent? - now Josh was getting really confused.

- Yeah.

- Then what should we do?

- Do we have to do anything? We can do nothing! - Celia was still with an angry pose - We could never do anything! We can't defeat Sin forever, we can't beat Yunalesca, we are useless! Everyone is useless in this world!

- H-hey, calm down... I know that. I was just wondering... You see, what the summoner Yuna is doing, that's just cruel. You know, now the people of Spira really think they can be free. What will happen in a couple of years when they find out that this is all a fake?

- I don't know. Does it matter? But I wonder... why is she doing this? Fooling an entire population, for what?

- One word: - Marckus drank a bit of his beer before he continued - Power. Do you see the way the people idolatrize her? She will soon be at the top command of Spira's government; and no one will even think about saying "no" to her. He was the one who supposedly defeated Sin, after all. And there is nothing we can do really... And even if it was, there was no use. Spira is already ruled by unsent people... This Summoner is just another power-thirsty dead person...

-------------------

- Maaaan! You got the crowd to go wiiiiiild! Look at'em!

- Great speech Yunie! How did you manage to improvise those last lines? They weren't on the text we had written. Hey, where are you going?

- I just... need to catch some fresh air.

- Hmm, yeah, sure. - Rikku was getting confused "Isn't the Stadium already at open air?" Yuna was walking fast and haven't raised her head since she got out of the podium.- Are you feeling alright?

- Y-yeah. I'll be right back.

And said this she entered some door.

- Hey, if you want to catch fresh air you are going in the wrong way! Yun...

- Stop that!

Lulu seemed pissed. Suddenly the room went silent for some seconds.

- Something wrong, Lu?

- Yes! Do you realize what you are doing?

Again, silence.

- You don't understand, do you? She isn't in the mood to care about the crowd right now. And I'm sure she doesn't want to listen to your comments about the speech. Give her some space.

Wakka and Rikku were totally dazed.

- What do you mean?

Lulu sighted. "Why do I even try?"

- Okay, I'll be direct with you: she isn't happy. She doesn't care about ...

- Hey, how come she ain't happy? Did ya saw her there? Did you saw her yesterday? She seemed pretty well!

- Yes, I saw her yesterday. She surely seems well. But don't you know her? She hides her feelings better than anyone. But she is all but happy. I... I talked to her yesterday, at night... I checked on her room to make sure everything was alright and to give her good luck for today... But, guess what? It was not alright. She is only acting like that for us not to worry about her. She saw us and the other people so happy about Sin's death, that she didn't want to ruin that moment; so she pretended to be happy too.

Riku and Wakka looked to each other, embarrassed.

- Did you forget about Tidus?

- Damn, no!

- Then why do you pretend you did?

- We can't keep thinking about that all the time, Lu. It costs a lot to know Tidus is no longer with us, but I, and all of us, have already lost people in the past... our parents, friends...

- Home...

- Yeah, Rikku lost Home,... Damn! But we keep goin' with our lives! Just, try not to think about it too much, and ya'll get over it!

- That's the point. She can't do that. She can't stop thinking about Tidus like we do... - "The same way I still think about Chappu..." - Yesterday, she worked hard as hell in this speech, you know why? She was trying to get her mind busy, so she didn't have to think about other things. Like, thinking about Tidus.

- Wait a second! How do you know Yuna fells that way? - Rikku was getting annoyed with all that. - Since when you read people's minds?

- I don't. But I know that she spent an entire day crying for him, and yesterday she fell asleep crying again. I was with her, I saw how she really feels.

Now a tense silence invaded the room.

- Man... you're probably right... I hate this! Why couldn't he stay? Why did he die anyway? Fuck it! - Wakka gave a furious kick in the little trash basket and gave a long sigh - What can we do now? You know, to make Yuna feel better?...

- Right now, I don't think we can do a lot. Just give her some space, and try not to make her feel worse...

- Hey, you said she pretended to be happy because... we were happy, right? Maybe we should show her we miss Tidus too... – Rikku looked to the floor - I miss him too... Then, maybe she wouldn't feel so alone... I don't want her to have to pretend something she is not, not with me!

- That could be a good start.

------------------

"What the hell is this?! Am I nothing? No... I'm thinking, right? Then I must be something. But... aawww... Damn! If I am nothing, how am I here thinking about being nothing? Why should I be nothing anyway?"

"Should there be a reason? You are nothing because you were never anything, that's all"

"What? Anyone there? Who is there?"

"Here is no one. Just another piece of nothing... just like you, boy"

* * *

_End of Chapter 5 _


	6. Six Months

I 

** Chapter 6**

* * *

Six months have passed since Yuna's speech at Luca. Six months only, but it was enough time to the people of Spira to start rebuilding their world. 

First, at a personal way. People took a while to realize that they were finally free from Sin. They just couldn't understand it; they always thought that, after a thousand years of suffering, they would never be free. But still, there they were. The great majority of the people weren't sure about what to do... Their lives used to be centered in Sin: where did he attack? will he attack my home? where should I go now that my home was destroyed? And that wasn't all. With Sin's death, people started to think about their beliefs; they always believed that following Yevon's teachings they would be happy, but now, most of those teachings had lost its meanings.

That lead to the formation of some new groups. First there were lots of them, usually with only a few hundred of followers; some still believed in Yevon's teachings, some radically denied them, some were interested in bringing back the lost machinas (since that there was no longer a reason to forbid them),... Those groups evolved, some with the same ideas joined to form a new and bigger group, and now there were four main groups: New Yevon, Youth League, Machine Faction, Truth Seekers.

New Yevon was the one chosen by those who couldn't leave Yevon's teachings behind. New Yevon was lead by some high priests and they claimed Bevelle as their head-quarters. They believed that, in spite of having many secrets, Yevon worked for Spira, and his teachings still have value. Of course that they didn't deny machinas or the Al-Bhed people anymore, but they said that Yevon was one of the most important personalities in Spira's history, and should not be forgotten. Although they had many followers, there were many people who criticize them for still believing in Yevon; those people often said that the New Yevon followers were people who lived in the past, and that could not change their mind.

The Youth League started with a small group of crusaders whose objective was to rebuild Spira. They wanted to fix everything Sin had destroyed. The small group began doing small tasks like building some houses here and there, and was becoming bigger and bigger. Right now, they had enough followers to begin their biggest project until then: rebuild a city. And, in fact, they were already making plans to rebuild Kilica. But one of the main problems with the Youth League was that there were so many ideas, so many people that wanted to help, that sometimes they lost control, and ended up making things worse... They also denied completely Yevon's teachings. They considered that all the suffering in the past thousand years was caused by Yevon, and so he should be forgotten. Because of this belief Youth League's followers and New Yevon's followers often collided...

In the past thousand years, the Al-Bhed always tried to continue to develop and study machinas; but this task was very difficult due to Yevon's teachings. But now, they were free to do anything they like with machinas! And they didn't want only to study them, but also to teach the people of Spira about them. That was why they founded the Machine Faction (they called it "Machine" because some people still associated the word "Machina" with a bad thing). They were very surprised when the Machine Faction began to attract a big amount of followers, much more than they had ever imagined.

There was another group of people whose objective was to find out exactly what happened in the past thousand years, and even before that! For that they traveled around Spira, searching for lost or hidden books, spheres, and every other kind of documentation that could lead to more knowledge. They called themselves Truth Seekers. Although their objective was to discover the truth, sometimes they had to use "dirty ways" to do it: they often got in trouble when searching for stuff in dangerous places, or stealing some documents from the temples... "All in the name of the truth" was their motto.

This was Spira, six months after Yuna's speech, six months after Sin's death.

-----------------------

"Six months since..."

Yuna was sitting at a cliff near Besaid's beach. It was almost night, so the place was almost desert; not a single sound could be heard except for the wind and the small waves of the sea reaching gently the sand. She liked to go there at that hour of the day, it was the only time she could really relax.

In the past six months a lot happened to Spira; new beliefs, new religions, new ideas... But still the people of Spira needed a guide, someone to go to when they were unsure. Before, they went to a temple, to ask help to the faith, priests or fallen Summoners but now,... they went to Yuna. Now, more than ever, the people of Spira was unsure; they didn't know what path to follow, what to do. Lots of people came every day, asking what was the meaning behind Sin, what group they should join, what will happen next to Spira... No matter what they asked, all of them were looking for answers that not even Yuna had. She often felt revolted, angry because of that. The only thing she had done was to defeat Sin. That didn't make her a god! She was getting really sick of the people that came to her, instead of trying to find their own answers. But what could she do? She never could say "no" to someone who wanted to meet her; and now she was really revolted because of that part of her that couldn't say "no" to a person who was asking for help.

So, that few moments in the day when she could just sit down and think about nothing at all were sacred to her. But today, there was something disturbing her. She had read something about the Truth Seekers... It seemed that they found out some sphere at Zanarkand with recordings of the city before the war between Bevelle and Zanarkand,... before Sin! She got curious about that sphere, she wanted to see it... "That sphere shows his Zanarkand... a Zanarkand that never sleeps."

This thought lead to that one she always tried to avoid, but always ended up thinking about.

"Six months since... you left... So much happened, so little changed..."

In fact, for her, it didn't matter how Spira was, she didn't care about all those groups. She was just there, and he was just gone, forever.

Every day during those first six months, she used to go to that cliff, and whistle, hoping he would come... come running for her. But everyday she had exactly the same disappointment when he didn't come. Every single day. Now, she was starting to give in to the painful truth...

"It's not worth trying anymore... "She felt she was stuck there, hopeless; trying every day to change her life, to change what was wrong. But every time she tried to do so, she was assaulted by the feeling of emptiness, completely lost. So, she just continued with her pathetic life, she just sat back and watched as her life flies by... Thinking about that made her feel that she was wasting her life, but how could she change that? She was so lost, so clueless about what to do, she couldn't even stay focused on what she was doing; her mind was always somewhere else, far away, always on him.

And now she asked herself why... "Why am I trapped in that mindset? Why am I desperate to live while I'm not even dead yet?..." Or, was she dead? She wasn't sure. She was there, living her simple life, but still... she felt like she was all ashes inside, lifeless.

---------------------------

"Wait a minute! Who the hell is there?!"

"Didn't you listen, boy? There is no one here."

"What? That makes no sense! Now, who is there?! Where are we?"

"Nothing... I'm nothing, you are nothing, we are nowhere"

"What are you talking about?..."

"That's exactly what you heard, boy."

"What the fuck! Why do you keep talking with nonsense? What is that about "being nothing"? We are here, I'm yelling at you!"

"No you're not, you are just thinking you are."

"What do you mean?" - he was getting really frustrated

"Didn't the faith tell you?

"What?..."

"Oh my god... listen carefully, boy, you and me, were never nothing, okay? Nothing at all. We don't exist. We were only a dream, a dream of the faith. But now the..."

"Hey! I know that! Yeah, yeah, I am a dream, and now the faith stopped dreaming. So what? Wasn't I suppose to be dead now? Where am I? This isn't the Farplane!"

"Ha! What? You expected to go to the Farplane?" - the voice let out a big laugh - "Look, you are not dead, because you were never alive, got it?"

* * *

_End of Chapter 6_

I'm having exams in the real live, that means less time to write... that means a slower writing pace ( But I'll keep writing; actually, I have some more chapters already writen, they just need to be revised again and published. So you can expect a new chapter in some days )

Now, about this one; I don't really like it... But I had to write something about what happened in those six months between the first chapters and the ones that will come; I couldn't just jump in the time xD So, this is a small explanation of what happens in the meantime. As you can see, I based somethings in FFX-2 (the Youth League, New Yevon, etc.) but they will have different ways in my story... and I have some cool things planned with the Truth Seekers )

As for Mr. Sanchez, I can't say that Yuna and Tidus will reunite soon; but that doesn't means Tidus isn't here, hehehe... I have some cool things planned for him to.


	7. The Great Below

I

**Chapter 7**

* * *

Those were six crazy months for the guardians. After Luca's speech, the four of them and Yuna had to do some smaller speeches here and there to explain what happened to the population. And, of course, explaining it always lead to more questions about Yevon, Sin, Spira's government, and all sorts of controversial questions. And, of course, those questions were mostly directed to Yuna. Their initial intention was to do a quick tour through Spira, explaining what happened, but they stopped it early when they saw that Yuna really needed a break. In fact, that was like a second pilgrimage around Spira, but this time Yuna didn't have that determination not the motivation she used to have on the first. And, of course, she looked tired, sad, and it wasn't very difficult to know why. 

By that time, they split away from each other. Wakka, Lulu and Yuna returned to Besaid, Rikku returned to her Al-Bhed family, and Kimahry went to Gagazet.

--------------------

At Besaid, Wakka returned to Blitzball. Datto was then the capitan if the Aurochs, but when he found out that Wakka was returning to the game, he immediately gave up his post and welcomed Wakka again to the team as their capitan. Wakka was impressed about how much the Aurochs had improved since last year's tournament.

- Hey, after we won Yevon's cup last year, we couldn't loose again, yah? - Keppa said - So now we train twice as hard as before, so we can win this year again!

- Yeah! After all, our new goal is victory! Right? - Datto shouted. And then the entire team was screaming "Victory!" happily and loudly. - Talking about that, we are really sorry for that guy... Tidus... Man, he was a hell of a blitzer! Guys, the next cup we win, will be at the memory of Tidus, the blitzer from Zanarkand!

So, Wakka was either training with the Aurochs, or with Yuna and Lulu, attending to the dozens of people who came every day with "freaky questions", as he called them. It wasn't a bad life.

----------------------

Lulu always thought that being a guardian would be something she would do for her entire life. But now that Sin wasn't coming back, there was no need for more Summoners, and so, no need for more guardians. Thinking about this made Lulu start to wonder what would she do now. She thought that, at Besaid she could try to find some job that required black mage skills... or maybe not only at Besaid... "But not right now".

In fact, she didn't have the intention of leaving the island for the upcoming times; she didn't want to leave Yuna like that, she wanted to help her. "All this time she helped the others, it's time for us to help her." she thought. So, she stayed. At Besaid, she stopped thinking about getting a new job; actually, helping Yuna with the people who went to Besaid looking for answers was keeping her pretty busy.

--------------------------

For the first weeks, Kimahri went with Wakka, Lulu and his protected to Besaid. He just stood there, like he always did, watching over Yuna as she attended the people who come to her asking for help. He didn't really like the people who went to Besaid looking for answers because he saw the way Yuna looked tired after an entire day talking to them.

But soon the ronso saw that there was nothing he could do there, and that Lulu and Wakka were taking care of Yuna. So he decided to go back to his home, to Gagazet. On the way to the icy mountains, Kimahri was afraid of the reaction of his fellows Ronsos; he was still that "little ronso" with a broken horn. Those fears dissolved when he arrived to the first Ronso village and was greeted as a hero. Even Biran and Yenke said that Kimahri was a hero to Spira. This made Kimahri proud of himself, not for being a hero, but for being accepted again between his race.

------------------------------

Rikku went to Bikanel, to the place that was once Home. There, the Al-Bhed people were searching for machinas that could still function; not small machinas, but some big ones like airships. In fact, that was exactly what Rikku and Brother were searching for; they decided that they would have their own airship, and then they would travel around Spira like Truth Seekers! It was all that Rikku could ask for: freedom. And now that she could show herself as an Al-Bhed and use machinas without worrying about what the other people might think, she surely felt free. Free from the other people's inquisitive eyes, free from those weird goggles, free from Yevon. While in the desert, she and Brother met two other Al-Bhed that also searched for freedom. One of them was called Buddy; he was a young airship expert; he had dedicated his life so far studying those big machinas, and could now apply his knowledge! The other one was called Shinra; none of them knew Shirna's exact age, and that was a bit of a controversial subject. He looked like a child, but was more intelligent than any machina expert around. Also, he always used this mask that didn't allow people to see his face.

With this small team, they found an airship in a fairly good state of conservation, and were slowly fixing it. Life was good for the Al-Bhed guardian.

----------------------

"Gone forever"

That thought always made her shudder. Even six months after his death, she still suffered the same way she did the day he died. She still cried for him; she didn't cried outside, but inside, she always cried, always she thought about him... every day. She wondered how would be her life if he was there with her. It would be...

"Just perfect"

Yeah, perfect seemed to be the best word. She had never thought of a perfect life; at least not for her. Ever since she decided to become a summoner, she thought that her life was all about defeating Sin; after that it was over. That was why she had put so much dedication on her pilgrimage,... after all, the pilgrimage was supposed to be her life. What was to happen after that didn't matter to her, because she would be dead. But now, she was there, Sin was dead, she was alive. Most of the people would say she was lucky, and that she should live her "new life" as best as she could. At the beginning, when she discovered that there was a way to definitely defeat Sin, she thought that too. She imagined herself living in a fearless world, with a normal life... Getting a job, a house, falling in love, having children... But now that she thought about it, she realized that it wasn't that simple.

First, she wouldn't fall in love with anyone; she was sure she could never forget Tidus (nor she wanted to!). Second, how could she have a job? The only thing she professionally learnt was the summoner office, and now that didn't worth a thing. She could learn a new job, but what? She had never thought about it (she had never needed to), and now that she was thinking, she felt lost. She thought that she should learn something she liked... but again, what? How could she think about it with Tidus gone? Well, that's the third point; Tidus was gone forever. How would she move on without him?

"Don't worry, you will find a way" Lulu had told her once. But she couldn't find the way, she couldn't let it go. Now that she thought about it, she got angry with herself.

"How can this be? How can one person change my life this much? Why do I miss him like this?! It wasn't supposed to be this way... I can't understand..." She let out a furious sight and realized that her face was covered with tears. "Damn, not again..." She hated when that happened, she hated when she couldn't hold the tears, she hated when someone asked what was happening, she hated when she wasn't left out alone, she hated the way she couldn't move on, she hated Tidus for leaving her alone, she hated everyone, she hated herself.

- I hate this! - since there was nobody around she allowed herself to scream those words. She was now standing. She looked around her; it was night already, nobody was around, silence... she could hear the waves against the rocks, the wind, her own breath. And for some moments, she enjoyed that silence.

"What now? I must go back to the village... "She didn't want to go back, she wanted to stay there forever, forget everything, end everything... But she had to go, if not, she would worry everyone, the people of Spira needed her, even if she was as much (or more) as lost as them...

"Then what? Tomorrow is going to be the same thing, and then, in the day after, and after, and after,... always the same old thing, all over again... I'm sick of this."

She walked to the edge of the cliff. She felt the wind... "That feels good". She imagined herself flying away from everything... flying to Zanarkand, to see the city that never sleeps, to his arms….. "Stop being silly now..."

Back to reality, she looked down; she watched the waves as they went gently against the rocks below. The wind there was stronger, so she had to hold on to a tree so she wouldn't fall down. She wondered what could happen if someone fell down from that place. It was a big fall... someone would probably die if it fell down there...

"What if?...No!" She closed her eyes and shook him head "I must have gone insane... I must get out of here!" She tried to move away from the edge, but she couldn't. The idea was just too attractive... "I can... can't do it... can I? What if I do? Will they be disappointed? No... it would look like an accident here... "The summoner Yuna died in an accidental fall in a Besaid's cliff" yeah... No!" She was now holding the tree stronger, until she was hugging it, scared with herself... "What is happening with me? I shouldn't be thinking about this!..." But she thought again.

"Maybe... isn't that bad... I wasn't supposed to be alive, right? And what am I going to do if I stay here? The same old routine? No... I am really sick of it!"

She looked again to the sea below. That view made her remember the view from the Farplane, in Guadosalam. She had not returned there since the Pilgrimage, and she didn't intend to. She remembered being in there, in the rock platform; she remembered the big plain below, the waterfalls, all those colors... it all looked so big in the Farplane. And he was there, in that great below...

She slowly let go of the tree. "And why should I care about Spira? Why do I care? My job in this world is done…. "

After the pilgrimage, Tidus' death, the same routine every single day, the people asking her questions every day, what was the point? What was the point of living? She already felt dead inside, so she decided...

"It doesn't worth living like this"

"I'll do it... I will take my place... In the Great Below..."

She let herself fall down to the sea.

------------------

"How come I was never alive? I mean, I was there! I was in Zanarkand, Spira, the pilgrimage! You are saying that never happened?"

"No, it all happened, and you were there,... That doesn't make you exist, you ended up here!"

"Where is "here"? And what you say still makes no sense at all!"

"Here isn't a place, is just nothing. You and I are nothing, so we can't be anywhere. That's why we ended up here."

* * *

_End of Chapter 7_

I really, really, reeeeeeeeally hate my Internet server. I wanted to publish this chapter since 4 days ago, but I couldn't go online! Bah! Well, in the meantime I revised Chapter 8; I just won't publish it today because I don't want to publish two chapters nin a single day…. Tomorrow it will be published, if I can go online of course…..


	8. Soul Genesis

I 

**Chapter 8**

* * *

He was thinking with all the mental strength he had, but still didn't understand a single thing that "who-ever-that-guy-is" was saying. "Nothing"? "Nowhere"? What was that?

"Let's try to organize this..."

"Organize what?"

"Hey, get out of my thoughts!"

"How do you want me to do that?"

"Just shut up! I don't care about you anymore..."

"Whatever you want, boy..."

"So, even if I'm just a dream, I am something... I was there, right? That couldn't all be a dream, or some sort of hallucination!"

"No, that actually happened, Sin is dead, Yevon is vanished, blah, blah..."

He ignored "who-ever-that-guy-is".

"So, I died..."

"I had already told you, you were never alive..."

"... and now I'm here. Why? Why not the Farplane? Let's see... I was a dream, summoned by the faith... I was an aeon. They stopped dreaming, so, as an aeon, I vanished... My body was made out of pyreflies, and now it's gone... so, I guess that physically I never existed"

"At least seems that you got smarter..."

"But why do I still think? If I was nothing at all, I wouldn't be here thinking about this... I think, therefore I exist, right?"

- That's because you have a real soul.

"What?..."

"What the?..."

He froze at the sound of that piercing sound. Another voice?

"W-... who is there?" - this time it was "who-ever-that-guy-is" asking

"What, I thought that you knew all about this here, smart guy"

He was extremely confused; and extremely happy at the same time. Confused because of that voice, happy because there was someone else there other than that "smart guy" who could give him some decent answers, who could give him hope.

"Real soul? Who is there?"

- Yes, a real soul. And I am what you could call a Faith.

"Hey, you can't be here!"

- How come? Didn't you just say that there was no "here", that you both were "nothing"?

"Yeah! That's precisely why it's impossible for you to be here! How can a Faith be in nowhere?"

"Maybe because we are somewhere after all!"

- No, you are indeed nowhere. You exist only in thought. I could manage to talk to you through thought.

"Like,... telepathy?"

- Yes, something like that.

"So, what were you saying? Real soul? What is that? I want to know everything!"

That "real soul" thing was a ray of hope for him... just the word "real" was enough to get him interested.

- Wait and I will explain everything.

"I'm listening"

"I guess I'm too"

- A thousand years ago, Yevon summoned the Dream Zanarkand, the city you come from.

"Yeah, yeah. I know about that "dream city" deal"

- Please, let me explain everything until the end.

"Yeah, you heard him! Let the Faith talk and shut up, boy!"

"Alright... I'm sorry..."Despite his big curiosity and excitement, he tried to keep quiet. "Please, continue"

- This city, the buildings, the people, were all created by the huge aeon Yevon summoned then. The buildings were easy to summon, but summoning an entire population was a big challenge, even for Yu Yevon. To summon buildings, Yevon just had to manipulate the pyreflies to give them form, but to create a person, just shaping the body wasn't enough. A person exists in three different ways: body, mind and soul. The body is the material form of a person, it's what allows someone to walk into some place, to live in the world. Mind is the collection of a person's life experience: all the memories and knowledge. And finally, the Soul; a soul is what makes every person different from all the others, is the true essence of someone.

Making the bodies was easy: it was just like summoning the buildings, manipulating pyreflies. But a body without a mind is like a newborn baby: it knows nothing, it has no memories at all. To create the minds, Yevon literally invented lives... He thought about the people who lived in the real Zanarkand and transmitted those thoughts to the bodies, giving them an artificial mind. This is where your memories about your past came from. But, even being the most powerful summoner alive, Yevon couldn't create souls. As I said before, a soul is the essence of a person, and that is impossible to create.

So, the population of Dream Zanarkand had a body and a mind, but no soul.

"But... you said... if we are from the Dream Zanarkand... how can we have a soul?"

- When we stopped dreaming, the aeon city vanished, that includes the buildings and the people.

"That includes us..."

- The building and the people's body vanished; the people's minds vanished too, as they were made of Yevon's thoughts. So, that population completely ceased to exist in that moment when you killed Yevon.

"Yeah, but, what about that soul thing? You said we..."

- I'm almost there. You two were just like everyone else in Dream Zanarkand. You had a body made of pyreflies and a mind that came from Yevon's thoughts. But you managed to come to Spira, and had contact with the real world, with real people. From that point, your mind became independent from Yevon, since you were living outside Yevon's reach, where he could control your life experience no more; you created your own mind. That's why you remember Zanarkand, Spira, and all that you lived. And, somehow, when you contacted with the real world, you got a soul. I'm not sure why this happened... But not even we, Faith, know how or why souls are created. We only know that every intelligent living being has one that is unique. That's why you are here thinking, somehow existing.

"How do you know we have a soul?..."

- Because if you hadn't, you would be just mind. You would be just a piece of knowledge and memories, roaming around with no destination. It is the soul that makes you think and question what is happening.

-------------------------

- Who is there?

"What?! Another voice?"

- Stop doing that! Who are you?

"D-doing what?" He was getting really confused. First one voice, then a Faith, now another voice? But this one was different, this voice had a tone, a feminine tone... a tone he recognized from somewhere...

- Stop following me! Where are you? Show yourself! - the voice seemed really angry.

"Following you? What are you talking about? I don't even know exactly where I am…. Where are you?"

- That... makes no sense... Who are you?

"I'm not really human..."

- Are you a Faith?

"No... actually, I used to be a dream of the Faith..." So, this voice knew what a Faith was, which means that the person speaking (or thinking?), was from Spira, right? "Hmm... Where are you?"

There was a long pause until the voice's answer.

- Mi'hen Highroad... What do you mean a dream? - the voice seemed now tired, desperate.

"It's... complicated..."

------------------------

"So... the rest of the population of Dream Zanarkand doesn't have a soul? They don't exist at all?"

- Yes. There are absolutely no memories from them. It's like they never existed.

"There's a Faith here, I think it's better to be him explaining..."

- Explain what?

"Explain that "dream thing" to her"

"Her who? What are you talking about?"

"To her! The other voice?..."

- Other voice?

"Are you nuts, boy?"

"Hey! Wait, you didn't hear?"

- Heard what?

"The voice! The other voice! She is in Mi'hen!"

- There is nobody here except for us three.

"So,... you didn't? What the?..."

* * *

_End of Chapter 8  
_


	9. Panic

I

**Chapter 9**

* * *

- What? Where!!? - the young Al-Bhed was almost screaming in panic.

- At-t the shore, near the dock...

- Oh, damn! I must go there...

- Wait, she was already taken to the village's medical post!

- Then take me to the village. NOW!

- I'm on my way! Calm down!

"Calm down!? How can he say that!?" Rikku was walking and thinking at full speed. Just a few moments ago she had been waken up by Brother, who received an urgent message from Besaid. "It seems that something happened to Yuna" he said. "They said she was found at the beach, unconscious and covered with blood."

"What in this world could have happened? I just hope she is alright"

- Can't this piece of junk go faster?!

- Hey! This airship was rebuilt just a few weeks ago! I'm doing my best!

---------------

Wakka and Lulu were nervously waiting for the door to open.

- Why are they taking so much time? I'm going insane!

- Please, calm down, Wakka. I'm sure they are doing their best there...

- Yah, I know, but... Can't they just say something?... - Wakka stood up and was now walking nervously around the place.

- For Yevon's sake, stop that... You are making me even more nervous!

"Even more nervous? I don't think I can get more nervous than I am right now!..."

Wakka thought about the bizarre events that were taking place in that night. It all started when Lulu said that Yuna was taking too long to arrive at the village...

_- Nah! She must be arriving by now... Maybe she just wanted some more time to be alone, yah?; Besides, there is such a nice weather, she should have been enjoying it a bit more today..._

Now that he thought about what he said back then, he cursed himself. "Maybe if I had heard Lulu..."

_- Hmm... maybe you're right... but still, I don't like the way she stays alone like that..._

_- Come on, Yuna's a big girl already, she can take care of herself, yah?_

_- It's not that... Lately she is tends too much to be isolated from everyone, I'm a bit worried about that._

_- But, wasn't that you who said she needed sometime for herself?_

_- Yes, but six months have past, and she still didn't cheer up much... and I think that being alone isn't helping a lot now._

_- Is that a "women thing"? Because I'm not sure I understand..._

_- Just forget it._

But now Wakka was starting to understand what Lulu said._ They waited a little longer, but still no signs of Yuna. Wakka then decided to go to the beach to check if everything was alright. When he arrived there, he finally started to panic a bit; Yuna wasn't there. He searched around the beach, the rocks and the dock, but she wasn't anywhere. Back to the village, he called the Aurochs to help him searching for Yuna; this time they searched for her not only at the beach, but also in the trails that connected the beach to the village. It was a hard task since it was already night by the time. But still, not even a clue. Until..._

_- Heeey! Over here! - One of the Aurochs had finally found something in the beach's shore. When Wakka arrived there, he wasn't sure of what to think. First he didn't understood what was that; with the weak light they had he only saw a strange body lying on the sand._

_- We ain't looking for fiends! We're looking for Yuna!_

_- But, capt'n,..._

_He gave a close look to that strange body; and then he really panicked. Then it happened all very fast. He called the rest of the team and they took Yuna to the village; there she was taken to the medical post._ And there they were.

Those who woke up with the noise (almost the entire village) were now waiting for the the healer to say something.

- Heeeey! Excuse me! Let me pass! - Rikku was trying to get pass through the crowd until she finally found Lulu - Where is Yunie?!

- In the medical post...

- Is she okay?

- We don't know...

- Where's the healer?!

- There, with Yuna - said Wakka as he pointed to the medical post's door.

- Ohh... come on!...

---------------

Half and hour passed between Rikku's arrival and the first news from the healer. He said the summoner was at a really bad state, and he couldn't do much to help.

- Being here is not helping... Besaid's medical post isn't the best in Spira,...

- That's it? Well, then take her to the airship, we can take her to anywhere in a few time! Just tell me where to go!

The healer was a little reluctant in using the airship (he still had Yevon's teachings on his head), but soon Yuna was on her way to Bevelle. Wakka and Lulu also went with Rikku and the rest of the airship's crew.

In Bevelle, Yuna was quickly taken to the hospital, and was now being treated with the best healers and white mages. Only in the next day Wakka, Lulu and Rikku heard some more news about Yuna's state.

- I don't know if I should say she is lucky or unlucky... It's amazing how she survived that. - The healer's face was a mystery. It wasn't happy nor sad, which left them confused.

- Will she be okay? - Rikku enthusiastically asked

- I don't know. Tell me, what happened to her?

- We are not sure... - Lulu closed her eyes, trying to remember everything exactly as it happened - She was found at the beach's shore; we have no idea about how she got there or what happened...

- Maybe she was attacked by some fiend... Besaid at night can become dangerous, yah?

- That's unlikely... She has some broken bones and several bruises all around her body. And she has a very deep wound on her left shoulder; in fact, the blood she lost came from that single wound. If it was a fiend she should have more wounds... My guess would be that her shoulder was smashed against something, a rock maybe.

- But then why the other broken bones and the bruises?

- The most credible theory is that she was smashed against a rock or something hard, and she must have been turned to the left when she did it; that would cause impact all over her body, with the most affected being the left shoulder.

- Bah! We have time to discuss that later, yah?! How is she?

- Not very good. As I said, she is lucky to have survived to whatever happened to her, but now the only thing we can do is to wait and see what happens. Me and my team made our best, but she is still at a very bad state... - The healer couldn't help to look to the floor when he said that - I'm sorry to say this, but she may not survive.

-----------------------------

- Hey! Check this out!

Marckus and Celia directed their attention to Josh as he entered with the Luca Times on his hand.

- "The High Summoner Yuna is at Bevelle's Hospital recovering from a severe accident that almost cost her life."

- What are you saying?...

- It's right here! In the front page of the Times!

- Let me see it! - Celia took the newspaper out of Josh's hand and read the big lines. - What the?...

- Now, that's a bad timing for getting sick! - Marckus joked.

- How come?...

- I was planning to do her a visit in Besaid...

- To visit her? It was because of that you wanted to talk to us?...

In the past six months the three continued their lives normally, never mentioning their skepticism to anyone: that could cause people to ask them things that they didn't want to tell them to anyone. But yesterday Marckus said he wanted to talk to them. So they met at Marckus' house, the same way as they did when they were younger...

- Yeah. I was planning to visit the Summoner... I thought you might want to come too.

- Why should you do that? - Celia gave Marckus a confused look - I thought that you didn't believe in her.

- I don't. And I thought that would be fun to go to Basaid and tell her that. - he was with a slightly evil smile on his face - Tell her that I don't believe in her bullshit and... why.

- What? And tell her everything we know?! - Josh thought that Marckus was going insane for good.

- That... makes no sense. I mean, we tried to hide it for all these years, and now you want to tell it to her, just like that?

- Calm down... Look, yes, I would tell her everything; but then, what? She couldn't tell it to anyone else, or the people would discover that this Eternal Calm wasn't eternal...

- But still, what's the point?...

- I just thought that it would be fun... to see her reaction.

- But wouldn't that be dangerous for us? I mean, we would become a threat 

to her, and she could try to hunt us down... - Celia was wondering if Marckus was going crazy

- Yes! Come on! Do you remember how it was before? Before we know what we know now! We used to travel around Spira, fighting beasts, being heroes! - Marckus got up from his chair and was now talking loudly - And look at us now! Sitting in a chair, doing nothing! I'm tired of this! I don't care if there is nothing I can do to stop the Summoner or Sin or Yunalesca or anything else that causes this big spiral of death, but I don't like being here sitting on my ass all day, living like I'm like everyone else! I want action again... - he slowly sat back to his chair, and was now speaking with a normal voice again - If you don't want to come, that's okay with me. But I'll go...

Josh and Celia looked at each other. "He definitely went insane!"

---------------------

Wakka entered the in one of the hotel rooms that they had rented in Bevelle. Everyone looked at him, waiting for some news; but Wakka's empty face erased all the hope about any more news.

- Still nothing?... - Lulu tried

- Nothing... - Wakka sighted and sited heavily on a chair.

This scene was repeated every day at morning and at the evening during the past week. In the first days, Kimahri (who had come to Bevelle as soon as he found out about what happened to Yuna) refused to get out of Yuna's room at the hospital, but now he realized that there was nothing he could do, and joined the rest of the guardians at the hotel.

- Just... give her some more time... - Rikku tried think positive - she'll get better, you'll see...

- You don't know that... - Wakka was now sitting and looking to the floor

- Hey,... if the healer says that nothing changed... it means that she isn't worse...

- But she isn't better either...

- Don't be pessimistic! She will get better; you'll see! She will...

- Kimahri hopes Rikku is right. But Rikku doesn't know.

- You'll see...

* * *

_End of Chapter 9_


	10. Dreams of Dreams

I

**Chapter 10**

* * *

- Why did you run away? 

- I can't believe you gave up like that!

- I thought that you were stronger

- Yeah, you defeated Sin after all!

- You must answer my question!

She felt like she was holding the weight of the world as Lulu, Wakka and some other guy were pressing her. She knew that guy,... he is one of the many people who went to Besaid looking for answers.

- Just leave me alone! - She ran away from that place; she didn't really know where she was, but she run. She was now at Besaid's temple, at some empty room.

"I thought that you knew all about this here, smart guy"

- But I don't! Leave me alone! - she said, as she turned to the person who said that. But there was no one there. The room was empty. "Who is there?..." She was sure she heard someone talking.

- Why don't you answer me? You know the answer, you are the High Summoner! - it was that guy again. She ran again; she got out of the room and was now running in some Luca's Blitzball stadium's corridor.

"How can a Faith be in nowhere?"

"Maybe because we are somewhere after all!"

"That voice again... and another?" - She stopped running and looked around. Again, the corridor was empty. "Who is there?..." The voices she just heard were strange; she couldn't tell if they were from a man or a woman, from a child or from an adult... they had no voice tone.

- Come with me. - She got frightened with that sudden voice and turned around. This time there was really somebody there; and she could definitely recognize that voice. It was Seymour. - See, I was right... You said you didn't understand, but you do. By dying, the suffering ends. Now, come with me. - He extended his arm to her, his hand was opened, an evil smile on his face. - Come join this spiral of death. It's that what you want, right? - he giggled evilly.

"Yeah, yeah. I know about that "dream city" deal"

- What?... - She closed her eyes. "Again that voice..."

She opened her eyes and was now at the Mi'hen Highroad; there was no one there... She was finally alone.

"What now?" She looked around, trying to find some sense to her life...

"Just perfect" It was that what she wanted. She wanted him... But there was no one around. She felt lost again, standing alone, with no direction...

"How did this happen? How did I fall so far behind? Why am I searching for perfection? That's impossible, it's something that I just won't find..."

She sited heavily on the dirt road

"How do you know we have a soul?..."

"Who is there?!" Although she was starting to get really angry with all that was happening, she didn't said that loudly, as she already knew that there was nobody around. And for her big surprise, someone answered.

"What?! Another voice?" Another voice? What did that mean? She was the one being followed by voices!

- Stop doing that! Who are you?

"D-doing what?"

- Stop following me! – Was the voice acting stupid with her? - Where are you? Show yourself! - now she was really pissed.

"Following you? What are you talking about? I don't even know exactly where I am. Where are you?"

Not sure of where he was? He had to be somewhere, right?

- That... makes no sense... Who are you?

"I'm not really human..." Not human? A Faith maybe?...

- Are you a Faith?

"No... actually, I used to be a dream of the Faith...Hmm... Where are you?"

A dream of the Faith? What the hell does that mean? "I must have gone insane..." She opened her eyes and looked to the floor. There she was, sitting in the middle of the Mi'hen Highroad, talking to herself... or to some kind of dream of the Faith... She began to feel tired, she wanted to give up... wasn't she supposed to be dead? Then, why care about her mental sanity? She continued talking to that voice.

- Mi'hen Highroad... What do you mean a dream?

"It's... complicated..."

- Well, I have time... - Weird, she wasn't feeling the voice's presence anymore... - Are you there?

No answer.

And there she was, sitting in the middle of the Mi'hen Highroad, completely alone... She thought about what was happening... Besaid, the people always asking her impossible questions... And how she ran away from all that, She felt emotionally weak running like that, like she had left herself down,... all because she ran.

"Why did this happened? When did I loose my sense of purpose? When did I lost my strength?..." Lost... alone... empty. Those were the feelings she was having right now "Can I regain what's lost inside?" She knew the answer for that one. She knew what was lost inside. And he was not coming back.

"Lady?..."

"Lady Yuna, are you with us?"

That was why she was on that situation. That was why she had no roads left to run.

Suddenly, she felt an unbearable pain on her left shoulder...

---------------------------

- Lady Yuna, can you hear me? - the white mage was checking if everything was alright, when he noticed that his patient was beginning to get conscious. - Lady...

She started opening her eyes and was trying to raise her right arm.

- Hurts... - the mage had to stop her arm from going to her left shoulder.

- No... I know you must be feeling some pain, but you mustn't touch it.

"Some pain? Is the guy joking?" The pain she was feeling was almost unbearable.

- Make it stop... - She could hardly speak

- Just wait a minute. - with this the mage turned back and went to a table where all sort of medical instruments were on. He returned with a needle - We're sorry we couldn't give you this earlier, but you must be conscious before we can use it without taking unnecessary risks. - The mage injected some liquid in her arm and she felt the pain getting better. She was still in pain, but at least she could think clearly.

- What,... who was there? - she looked around, trying to find someone else than the white mage.

- There is no one here but us, Lady Summoner. In fact, you are lucky I was here when you woke up...

- But, the voice... he said he was... a dream? - she was trying to remember the small dialogue she had with that voice - He mentioned the Faith...

- Lady, there was nobody here, you must have been dreaming. Now, wait here, I'm going to call the healer. And don't touch your left shoulder, okay?

- Hm... okay...

The healer left the small room. She looked around again, now inspecting the place. She wasn't sure of where she was, but she was definitely at some hospital.

"A dream of the Faith... What happened?" She tried to remember how she got there. "So... Seymour was at Mi'hen,... no, at Luca... "How could that be? "Maybe it was a really a dream... Weird..." She remembered the dream; Seymour, Luca, being at Mi'hen Highroad... but that voice... she could swear that really happened.

- Thanks' Yevon, you are awake. - the healer entered the room, followed by the white mage that had been with her some minutes ago.

- I was checking the room, and I noticed she was starting to become conscious. I had already given her a Analgesic 

- Okay, Zorbas, you may leave now.

- Yes, sir. - with this the mage abandoned the room.

The healer examined some documents he had for some moments, and then directed his look to his patient.

- How are you feeling, Lady Yuna?

- Weird... A little foggy. My whole body hurts, specially the left arm... it hurts a lot... - the healer got close to her bed and examined her left shoulder. - Where am I?

- Hmm... Your shoulder looks fine - "Fine? Are these healers all crazy?" She had already looked at her left arm, her shoulder was covered with bandages and plaster, and was hurting like hell - I'm Dr. Homes, healer of the Bevelle Hospital.

- So, I'm in Bevelle?

- Yes, m'Lady.

- How... did I get here?

- I was expecting you to tell me.

- What? - Yuna looked at Dr. Homes as if he was some kind of insane person - How should I know?

- Calm... First things first. What is the last thing you remember?

- Hmm... I was,... at Mi'hen, there was this voice... - she closed her eyes, trying to remember the details.

- No, no, no... Zorbas already told me about that dream,... before that, what do you remember?

- A dream?... No, it was real, that voice... - she shocked her head slowly - maybe... before that... I was at Luca, Maester Seymour was there.

- Maester Seymour? - the healer raised an eyebrow.

- Yes,... wait, he is... dead... isn't he? - Yuna raised his head and was now looking to Dr. Homes.

- Yes, he is. Can't you remember anything besides that dream? You were found at Besaid beach's shore...

A sudden flash went through her mind. Besaid, the nice wind, the cliff... "Shit...". She shocked her head violently.

- Something's wrong, Lady?

- Yes. - "Why am I not dead?"

- Do you remember anything?

- I... think so... - Now what? What was she going to say? That she tried to suicide? "No way..." She tried to make up something, to make it look like it was an accident. "They mustn't know..." She didn't like the idea of lying like that. "They mustn't know... that her guide gave up..." She thought that that was a good excuse for lying; but deep inside, she knew why she wouldn't dare to tell the truth... she was ashamed.

- I remember... being in Besaid... - The healer was writing something on some notebook - I was,... at a cliff, near the beach, the wind was strong... I think I fell down. I don't remember...

- That's great. At least you remember something. - and again he started writing on his notebook, which was really starting to annoy her "Is the guy writing every line I say or what?" - I think it's better for you to rest now. - Dr.Homes finally took his eyes from his precious notebook - Lady Yuna,... I want you to know that I'm really relieved that you are alive. I think that the whole Spira is. - he gave some steps towards the door, and just before he walked away, he turned back - By the way, your guardians are very worried about you; they usually come to the Hospital to check on you twice a day. They should be here in some hours.

- Okay... thanks' - she said looking down to her hands. Then she heard the doctor closing the door, leaving her alone in the room.

"The whole Spira? Great..." she let out a long sight. "How long am I here?..." She scouted the room with her eyes for some calendar, but nothing. Only a clock... "Well, there is no much sense on having a calendar on an Hospital room after all"

She let her head fall heavily on the white pillow of her bed (act that she immediately regretted, since it caused a sudden strong pain in her head) and closed her eyes.

"Now what?" She was tired of asking that to herself lately, but she couldn't help it. She thought about that day, at the cliff; trying to run away... Then, Kimahri's words started to echo on her mind "Apology is running. Yuna never run away." Where was that Yuna? The one that never run away? the one who was always smiling? the one that was determinate to do anything for Spira?

"What have I become?"

She then realized how much she had changed in the past months. Before the pilgrimage, she had a reason to live, to fight and fake smiles; but now, everything seemed pointless, dead. Even she was feeling dead inside... it was exactly that that lead to the suicide attempt in Besaid, wasn't it?

Her entire body hurt. That was a good sign, at least it meant that she was still alive, that still felt something. That seemed a lot contradictory, considering that she wanted to be dead.

She opened her eyes, only to see a dead white ceiling. She looked around, just to see the dead room, with a dead table, and a dead clock on the wall. She felt like nothing in there was real... it was all dead. She closed her eyes again, and focused on the pain, the only thing that was real, trying to forget about her emotional pain. But she remembered everything; even with that intense physical pain, she couldn't forget her pilgrimage... him... She thought again about how he changed her life... In that moment on the airship's deck, he was everything, everything she cared... but in the end, everything went away...

She remembered, one of he people who went to visit her (and ask her another impossible question) said she was everything to Spira, that Spira was her empire...

"You can have it all, my empire of dirt" That was how she felt about Spira: a whole empire of dirt; and she was the one wearing the crown of dirt, sitting on a liar's chair, pretending she could actually be Spira's guide. But in reality, she was nothing. The only thing she had was a handful of broken dreams and thoughts that she could not repair.

"You will find a way" Lulu's words came again to her mind. When she said them, Yuna believed that she would find her way, that, with time, that feeling of emptiness would disappear.

"But you are somewhere else, in the Farplane... I am still right here."

She wished she could start again... a million miles away.

"I would find a way"

--------------------------

"You are saying that you didn't hear her?"

"Err... no. Nobody's here! Just you, me and the Faith... Now shut up and let him finish the explanation."

"But..." He decided to follow the other voice's advice and shuted up. There was no use, none of them had heard that voice! And the voice seemed to have faded. He would let the Faith finish, and then he would think about it.

- Like I was saying, the people from your Zanarkand never really existed, and now they are nothing.

"So, that definitely means that we are something! You see? I told you we were something! And now what?"

"What do you mean, "now what"? It's over... you heard the Faith. No body, no world. We are stuck here!"

"No! There must be some way!... It just... can't end here..."

- Since you have a soul, I think it's fair to you to have a chance to really live.

"You see!? This isn't the end!"

- But you still need a body. We could create bodies for you with pyreflies, but that would never be a real body. And we couldn't hang it on for much time.

"So, what can we do?"

- You can do nothing. Just be here and wait.

"Wait?! For what? How long?!"

- Wait for us, Faith, to manage to do a real body for you. How long? I don't know. I must go now. Remember: just wait.

"Bah! Like we could do anything more..."

* * *

_End of Chapter 10_

When I started to write this FanFic, I never thought that it would have more than 10 chapters; but this is the 10th already, and the story isn't even at the middle. Actually, It's just starting! I have lots of new chapters in my head, this thing is gonna be huge... I'm going to add action to the next chapters (not to the "right next" (like the 11th, 12th, etc), but action chapters will show up with time...)

By the way, some lines of this chapter come from two great musics: Something I Can Never Have, by Nine Inch Nails ; No Roads Left, by Linkin Park

Go listen to them; they are awesome xD


	11. Martyr

I

**Chapter 11**

* * *

- Peopleee!! 

The young al-bhed rushed into the hotel room with a wide smile on her face and full of energy. Wakka and Lulu, who were sitting on the sofa suddenly got up, and Kimahri who was staring at the window turned around; all of them waiting to hear the good news.

- Yunie woke up!

A smile was now on Lulu and Kimahri's faces; Wakka stood some seconds emotionless, staring at Rikku, until he shouted:

- Yeah! Let's go see her, yah?!

- Let's go go go! - Rikku was jumping with excitement.

And there they went. The hospital wasn't far from the hotel, and they were walking at full speed (Rikku insisted that they should run, but Wakka told her to "hold her Chocobos"), so it didn't took much time until they arrived to the big building. As soon as they entered, they immediately went on their way to Yuna's room; they had gone there so many times in the past week that they already knew exactly where it was. On their way, they found Dr.Homes.

- Oh, here you are! - the doctor greeted them - the lady Summoner is already conscious. - He said that with a prideful smile.

- How is she? - Lulu asked.

- Well, I think it is too soon to take any conclusion, but it seems to me that she is pretty fine. - he looked at a notebook he was carrying - until now, no signs of brain damage or trauma; her shoulder is pretty much the same as it was a week ago, but that is normal considering the deepness of the wound... - he raised his eyes for a moment, and then he redirected them again to the notebook - it should begin to heal this week or the next. Until then...

- Yeah, yeah, we can hear that later! Just let me go see her! - Rikku was getting with her excitement accumulated from being there listening to the healer. Dr.Homes raised his eyes again from the notebook and gave a somewhat reprehensive look to the young al-bhed.

- The lady Summoner is resting now, I don't know if...

- I'm pretty sure she would be glad to see us. - Lulu abruptly interrupted the doctor - And don't worry, if she is sleeping we won't disturb her.

- Well,... - the healer's eyes were jumping between the notebook and the guardians - you may see her. But don't...

- Alright! - Rikku didn't stay there to listen what Dr.Homes was saying and started to walk in direction of Yuna's room, and was quickly followed by the rest of the guardians.

- Man, that guy was really freaking me out with that notebook! - Wakka said as he walked through the hospital's corridors.

They had finally reached Yuna's room. Just when Rikku was about to open the door, Kimahri grabbed her shoulder, pulling her back.

- H-hey! - she exclaimed with surprise; she gave a "what-the-hell look" to the ronso.

- Rikku calm down first. - it was all he said.

- I--aa...

- Kimhary is right... we shouldn't get in there jumping, she may be really tired and not in the mood... - Lulu said with her arms crossed. - we should enter quietly first, to check if she is awake.

- Well... yeah, I suppose...

--------------------

Someone opened the door. Although her eyes were closed, she was awake and heard some steps coming in the room. Well, she heard several steps actually. There should be more than one person coming in.

- Oohh... She's sleeping...

- That was kinda predictable, yah?

- Yeah, but...

- Shhh! you two! Don't wake her up.

She gave a thankful sigh as she heard that whisper dialogue. It was her guardians there, not another doctor. Wakka, and Lulu, and Rikku... and maybe Kimahri (that was hard to tell since he doesn't speak much...). She decided to open her eyes, and face her guardians for the first time since...

- Hey! She's awake! - Rikku said cheerfully.

- Hey guys... - she said with a weak voice, forcing a smile.

- Oh, I'm sorry we woke you up Yuna... - Lulu seemed embarrassed.

- No, that's okay... I was already awaken... - she gave a look around, to see Rikku, Wakka and Lulu's happy faces; Kimahri was there too, looking at her with affection and preoccupation.

- Oh, Yunie, we're so glad you're okay! - Rikku was jumping again.

- Yes, we were very worried about you...

- Hey! That doesn't matter now! You are alright, that's it! - Wakka said - But, damn, you gave us a hell of a scare, yah?

- I... - "I apologize? nah..." - I'm glad you are here.

- We came here every day to check on you... but every day the same old routine...

- Until today! I came here and I was told that you had awakened!

- So... I know this may be a stupid question, but... do you fell alright?

The Summoner looked to her guardians. They looked happy... happy to see her fine.

- I'll be fine. It's... nothing I can't handle with - Yuna said, looking down to the white sheets of her bed.

- Well, if there's anything we can do to make ya feel better, just say, yah?

- Yes, of course... Thank you. - She still didn't have raised her eyes from the bed. She couldn't. She didn't have the courage to face them after what happened in Besaid. "Calm down... There is no way they know..."

- Are... you sure you are okay, Yunie? - Rikku sat on the bed, and lowered her head to the same level as Yuna's, trying to see her face. Yuna directed her eyes to her cousin, and forced a smile.

- Yeah... I'm just...a bit tired, that's all.

Rikku smiled too and got up again.

"One, two, three"

She raised slowly her head, to face her guardians. Paranoia was filling her brain. "They don't know... no way..."

- So, ahm... what really happened? I... don't remember quite well... - she asked, and hoped for the best. "They can't know..."

- We don't really know... - Wakka started, scratching his forehead - we just found you at the shore of Besaid...

Yuna felt like the weight of the world had just been removed from her shoulders.

- Hmm... I see... - she directed her eyes again to the sheets, just to raise them again after a few seconds - tell me, how long am I here?

- Well... about a week now - Lulu answered. - we were getting really worried about you...

- Yeah, you had been sleeping for the entire week! Not a single sign of waking up, yah?

- But Yuna is fine now. - Kimahri looked at her protected. She gave a frustrated try to look at the ronso in the eyes - We are very relieved.

- Yep! We and the entire Spira! - Rikku said, raising her arms.

- The... entire Spira? - she empathized the word "entire", hoping that to be just her cousin overreacting the situation.

- Yeah! Everyone is worried about you! - it was Wakka who answered - Man, we got some hard times getting the people away from here...

- Yes, everyone wanted to visit the Summoner... - Lulu continued - they just didn't seem to realize that that would be worse for you... - the black mage shocked her head slowly.

"Oh, crap..." It was true. The entire Spira. Why couldn't they just leave her alone? She had thought that, being there she would be left alone, that she would disappear from people's sights... That, maybe, they would start to solve their problems alone. But no... they would keep coming, again and again, until the point when she was again in the same old routine as before, back to point zero... She was starting to feel weak, to loose her strength... She let out a long and desperate sigh, and lowered her head again.

- Something's wrong? - Rikku asked.

- Just... tell them I died.

Rikku and Wakka gasped, Lulu widened her eyes.

- W-what do ya say? - Wakka couldn't believe in his hears.

- Tell them that I died here. - Yuna's voice was weak, almost a whisper.

- Ha?... Why? - Rikku inquired with a confused voice.

- Because I'm tired...

- Well, don't worry - Wakka tried to cheer her up - you'll get better! Once you begin to heal...

- No. I'm tired. - the Summoned raised her head and her voice, scaring everyone on the room - Tell them I'm dead. Then maybe they would stop coming to me... - she was breathing heavily - I'm tired... of being their solution to everything... - her voice was a whisper again.

That sudden outburst let everyone in the room speechless. They would never think about that like that; they would never question Yuna's feelings about the people that come to Besaid to see her. They always thought that she was fine, she never gave signs of being tired of doing that... "How stupid were we?" Lulu reprehended herself; she knew that Yuna, even feeling desperate, wouldn't show signs of feeling like that, she would continue to do what she thought that would bring people's happiness... "Even after the pilgrimage, she is still a martyr..."

That tense silence was broken by Lulu.

- We... are sorry - the mage lowered her head - Maybe... you are right. You shouldn't be pressed by those people. I'm sorry we never realized that. - she looked to the other guardians, hoping they would say something "And, for Yevon's sake, don't say anything stupid!".

- Well, I guess... we should have noticed that before... I mean... yeah, sorry Yunie... It was never my inten... our intention to make you feel like that... - the al-bhed's face was red with the embarrassment.

- If it makes Yuna happy, Kimahri will keep that people away from you.

Yuna remained silent, with her head down, and gave another sigh.

- I just... I'm sick of them... - some tears were being formed in her eyes - I'm sick of having to pretend that I don't feel sad because of... everything...

- Everything? - Kimahri inquired.

- Everything... - a tear was rolling on her face, although the guardians couldn't see it - those people, the routine, him...

That "him" let them confused, but just for a moment; just until they remembered the fading guardian on the airship's deck.

- When I get out of here... I don't want to attend to anyone... never again... I don't care anymore.

Those words of her, when she said that she didn't care, made a great impact on the guardians. That wasn't like Yuna, she would never say anything like that, she always cared... Or she always pretended she cared... Those words, made them see, made them open their eyes to the cold reality in front of them... made them finally realize that Yuna wasn't the strong Summoner, always ready for everything, always caring for the others, never caring for herself... they realized that Yuna was just a human... a human with feelings that she had bottled up inside her, until now.

None of the guardians knew what to say, and Yuna wasn't going to say anything either. Again, the room was ruled by a tense silence.

- I don't care what you think, but once I'm out of here, I'll leave Besaid.

Although that was a somewhat shocking revelation, they didn't seem surprised. Maybe some minutes before, they would gasp, and say that she couldn't do that... but right now, none of them had the courage to say so; actually, none of them thought that it was their right to say so... If she didn't care about the other people anymore, she could do whatever she wanted to, and they didn't have the right to stop her.

- Where... will you go? - Lulu asked. Her first reaction was to ask "why?", but she thought that it didn't matter right now, and she wanted to show her she wasn't going to stop her or question her reasons. Actually, the mage was so scared with Yuna's "I-don't-care" attitude that she wasn't really sure if she wanted to know her reasons.

- I'm not sure... - Yuna passed her hand in her head, cleaning discreetly the tear that was still on her face - But I have plenty of time to think about it while I'm here right?

- Yeah... right - Lulu wasn't sure if it was a good idea, but smiled, trying to show her her support (even though she wasn't sure if she should support such a radical decision).

And even before she noticed, there was a smile on Yuna's face. An involuntary genuine smile; that was something that she didn't have for a long time. She had no idea why she was smiling, but in her subconscious she knew; she was happy because she had said what she wanted for herself (not for the others) and she wasn't being refuted by her guardians; now she could really follow her heart.

------------------------

The group walked out of the room as the Summoner said she wanted to rest. They gave some steps in silence in the hospital's corridor until Wakka, who was in the front of the group, suddenly turned around, making the guardians stop their walking abruptly; Rikku crashed against Kimahri's blue body.

- Hey? What's the deal? - shouted the al-bhed as she tried to regain her balance.

- Do you think Yuna was serious? - Wakka inquired, crossing his arms and looking to the ground. - I mean... She's leaving Besaid?

- Who knows... - Lulu tried to start, but was interrupted by an enthusiastic Rikku.

- Of course she was serious! Why would she say something like that if she wasn't talking seriously?

- B-but... leaving Besaid?! That's... that's crazy, yah?

- Didn't you listen to her? - now Rikku was also with her arms crossed - she's sick and tired of Besaid. And I think she's right!

- But...

- She hadn't done anything else but just being there since she defeated Sin! She would get tired of it eventually, don't you think? - Rikku seemed angry.

- Makes sense... But it's not just that; the way she reacted, she... - Lulu was trying to find some sense on Yuna's words - I don't know if it's from the pain she's in, or if she really meant that, but...

- Yeah, I see what you mean... - Wakka leaned to the wall - I'm still kinda freaked out with her attitude. I never saw her like that, yah?

- Oh, come on, you two! She is just asking for the rest she deserves! - Rikku was now looking seriously at the two guardians - I think she's doing the right thing. And if she's really leaving the island, I'll be the first to help her!

- If it makes Yuna happy, Kimahri will help too. - Those words made Rikku smile to the Ronso - And I think she is serious; when Yuna talk about serious things, Yuna doesn't joke.

- We're not saying she was joking, Kimahri... - Lulu gave a sigh - I just think that, being there for a week made her start to feel a little desperate, you know? And the physical pain mustn't be helping either...

- Yuna is strong; I believe she was telling the truth. - the Ronso was now looking at the two guardians with a severe face; almost scary - She can't live in Besaid forever. It will be good for her to leave the island.

Both Wakka and Lulu were amazed with Kimahri. They thought that he would be the first to oppose to Yuna's radical decision.

- Yeah! That's right! You expected her to live there forever? - Rikku was now with a triumphant look on her face.

- But, leaving the island... that's too...

- Yuna is a grown up woman now; she should make her own decisions.

- Yep! She must begin to live for herself. Otherwise... what was the point of living?

* * *

_End of Chapter 11_

I had to consult my dictionary, like, dozens of times while writing this chapter. There are some words around there that I'm not sure if they are correct... If I screwd up the text with bad english, I apologize, and please, let me know about my mistakes!

By the way, I may now write at a slower pace... this is because I am now writing other fanfics about... music videos! Yeah, fanfics about music videos, I'm not joking. Check my profile if you are interested.


	12. I Just Will

I

**Chapter 12**

* * *

She woke up to the cold world, in the same white bed, in the same white room; just like many times during the past week

She woke up to the cold world, in the same white bed, in the same white room; just like many times during the past week. She tried to remember anything, a dialogue, a sentence, a word. But nothing. For the entire week, nothing. No dreams, no voice. She tried to go back to sleep, but she wasn't sleepy at all. She gave e long sigh as she tried to put herself more comfortable in the white bed, task that was nearly impossible since her entire body ached; but at least the pain was getting better.

She wondered what was worse: being there or in Besaid. If she was in Besaid, she wouldn't be in constant pain and she could get up and walk around. On the other hand, being in Besaid almost lead her to suicide; the routine, the people... "No. Never again!"

Being there... well, she didn't have people asking for her help, and she knew that once she got out of there, the hospital routine would end; but she was getting tired of being always stuck to that bed, being in pain, with absolutely nothing to do except for thinking and sleeping. Everyday her guardians spent sometime with her, to give her strength and hope and a little chat... But even that was becoming part of the routine.

So, she spent her days sleeping and thinking... and hoping.

In fact, every time she woke up, she tried to remember anything, any dream she might have, hoping she would hear that voice again... It was so real that she was sure that it couldn't be just a dream... could it? "No" It was just... "Too real to be a dream". It was weird, she couldn't explain why she was so sure about the voice's existence; she just knew it was real, and she wanted to find exactly what it was. So, she kept sleeping, hoping the voice would come to her again. When not sleeping, she thought about the voice, about what it had said; and the more she thought about it, more confused she felt. First it was the fact that the voice didn't seemed like it wanted to talk to her; actually, the voice seemed as confused as her. Second, what was that "dream of the Faith" deal? "What does that mean?" She had no idea; and she had no idea about how to find out what was that: she tried to contact the voice again, with no success; she thought about talking to the Faith to ask them, but again, she didn't see any way to contact them. She was completely clueless about what to do, she only knew she had to find out more about that voice.

"Once I'm out of here... I'll go to a temple" That was her first step: a temple of Yevon. She wasn't sure if she could find any answers there since Sin was dead and the Faith didn't dream anymore, but she would try any idea she could remember.

"I'm telling you! There was someone else here!" He was sure he heard another voice; he was sure he talked to that voice...

"Impossible, boy. You heard the Faith; we are here because we're dreams of the Faith. And we're the only ones."

"But, wait. The Faith isn't a dream, and it talked to us! Why couldn't a normal person do the same?"

"Because the Faith knows we're here, and I'm assuming we are somewhere, that's how he can talk to us... telepathy, remember?

"Then, a normal person used telepathy too!" He wasn't sure if that was true, but he had to have something to believe, something that allowed him to talk to that pernon that no one but him seemed to hear.

"Impossible. You can only talk to someone that you know that exists. And no normal person knows of our... pseudo-existence"

"How can you be so sure about that?" He hated the way he always thought he was right; the way he thought that he was better than everyone.

"Because we died, remember? To the living people we're dead. Finished."

"But I know... I know what I heard! I talked to that voice! She was in Mi'hen, she thought I was a Faith!"

"She?"

"Yes!... It was a woman, or at least sounded like a woman...That means she's a real person! I mean, none of us has a voice tone, right? But she had! So she is real, and she talked to me!"

"I... don't know what to say. I still think it's impossible for us to hear any voice besides each other's voices"

"So you think I made this up? Why would I do it? Do you think I'm crazy? How could that be?" Now he was becoming desperate "Why can't you accept that I heard something? Why don't you believe in me at least once?"

"What do you mean?..."

"Come on! You... you never believed in me, you never supported in me... I..."

"You hate me"

Did he hate him? After all that happened, he wasn't sure...

"I... It wasn't supposed to be like this... I thought that once I was dead it would all end! But now I'm stuck here with you!"

"And it would be like this until the end of times. Get used to it."

"How can you say something like that?! It won't be until the "end of times"! It will be just until the Faith find a way to bring us back!" Anger was now filling his words and his thoughts, as he tried to have hope in the middle of that strange place... in the middle of absolutely nothing.

"If you say so..."

"Why... can you at least pretend you have hope?"

"Why should I have hope? Why should I want hope?"

"Because... it's the only thing we can have here..."

"Well, we have each other"

"Bah! Big deal! You never cared for me before!"

"Don't... don't say that. It's not true" Although none of them had a voice tone, there was a bit of sadness on those words.

"Oh, it's not true?! So how come you were always putting me down? Mocking me? The only person that cared about me was mom, and when you were around, even she used to leave me alone!"

"I'm sorry you look at things that way. But the truth is that I cared about you. You are my son, after all. All that mocking was to encourage you to try harder... You shouldn't remember, but when you were a little kid, you always used to give up things at the first try. I didn't want you to be like that for the rest of your life, you would become a looser..."

"You always said I was a looser... And you wanna know why I give up things on the first try? Because if I tried again, I would fail again, and you would joke about me again!"

"I didn't really mean that. Well, now that I look back, I must recognize that I must have mocked you too much... But, don't say I didn't care about you... But at least it worked."

"What worked?"

"You have become stronger. You survived quite well in Spira..."

"And why the hell did you send me to Spira, ha? If you never had attacked Zanarkand, nothing of this would have happened!"

"So, you would prefer you had never gone to Spira?"

"I..." Then, he realized that being in Spira was the best thing that had ever happened to him. He cursed himself for even thinking about living in Zanarkand forever. "I think... not..." How selfish was he being? He saved Spira; he saved lots and lots of lives; and more important, he saved her.

"Look, son, I wanted to give you a chance to live in the real world, even if just for a little time. I wanted you to get out of that perfect city,... to really live, you know?"

"I think... I... you're right." He hated to admit that his old man was right, but this time he really had to do it. "Being is Spira, knowing those people, knowing myself... it might be the best thing that had ever happened to me."

Thinking about that made his mind be filled with both sadness and happiness. Sadness, because he wished he was there, in Spira, with her... On the other hand, just the fact that the woman he loved was alive, made him feel extremely happy, proud... he made it; he saved her! Where was she right now? What was she doing? Did she missed him?...

"I guess... Thank you"

- What are you?

"W-what?" It was it! That voice again! "Do you hear it now?!"

- Hear what?

"Don't you?... What the?..." It seemed like his father's voice was absent from that "place".

- How many are you?

"I... ahm... two, I think... are you a real person?"

- Hmm... yes, I guess. What are you? Are you real?

"I'm not sure... part of me is real..."

- What does that mean?

"it means... It's kinda of a long story, you see?"

- I... have time...

"Well, to put it simple, see, I am like an aeon, I existed while someone summoned me. But now that Sin is dead, there is no one summoning me, so I don't really exist."

- But, I'm talking to you, right? - the feminine voice revealed fear.

"Well, yes. That's because part of me is still real."

- So, you were, like, a real person? You just need some one to summon you?

"No one can summon me now... Sin is dead, Yevon no longer summons, the Faith no longer dream... and, yes, I was once a real person in Spira. But I'll return... "

- If no one can summon you, how will you return?

"I don't know... But I will return, I just will."

* * *

_End of Chapter 12_

Wow, almost 3 weeks without posting a chapter... Shame on me!


	13. Her Own Answers

I

**Chapter 13**

* * *

Yuna woke up to a warm day in Besaid, with the usual pain in her left shoulder

Yuna woke up to a warm day in Besaid, with the usual pain in her left shoulder. But this time, she didn't care about that; the only thing filling her mind was the words of the voice, that had finally come to her again. Since the first time she had heard it, she had already been in the hospital for one more week, then some more days in a boat back to Besaid, then several days on the island without any more words from the voice.

That was the impulse she needed. She was about to give up, to admit that the voice was just a weird dream, but now that she had heard it again, she was sure that it was real. "Or at least... part of the voice..."

It was once a real person, some sort of dream of the Faith, and it seems that there are two of them. The voice's words were still echoing on her head... "I will return, I just will".

She got up slowly to the morning routine at Lulu's hut. By this time, she could already walk and she didn't have those unbearable pains anymore. After lunch she got out of the hut, not without being intercepted by the black mage...

- Where are you going?

- To the temple...

- Just wait a minute, I'll go with you. - Lulu said, as she walked towards the hut's door, getting ready to get out.

- No, there's no need... - Yuna didn't want Lulu to go with her; actually, she didn't want Lulu to know what she was going to do at the temple. She didn't tell anyone about the voice she heard, and she didn't want her guardians to find out about it. - It's something I want to do by myself...

- What do you mean? - asked Lulu, with both voice and face filled with confusion.

- It's just something... I want to go alone, that's all. To see if I can begin to live by myself again.

Lulu wasn't sure if she should let Yuna go alone as she was still injured: she couldn't move her left arm, and she still looked weak, but...

- Well, take care then.

- I will. - And said this, Yuna walked to the outside of the hut, feeling the warm breeze and the hot Sun of Besaid invading her body. She walked through the village, that was becoming bigger since Sin's death. It wasn't the village that existed two years ago anymore; now it had probably twice huts as it used to have before, and there were more people living there. "People don't fear that Sin will attack the island anymore." Indeed, it was funny how she remembered a dialogue she had several years ago, shortly after she had arrived to Besaid, when she was only a little child and Chappu was still alive...

" - You know, if it wasn't for Sin, the village would be muuuch bigger!

- Yeah, but people are so scared that Sin will come, that they don't come for the island.

- But, my father already killed Sin, didn't he?

- Well, yeah, but he will come back again.

- Then, someone must kill him again..."

She thought that that was the first time she had considered to become a Summoner, so she could kill Sin again, so the people didn't have afraid of coming to the island "It's funny how that doesn't matter anymore..." She stopped at the doors of the temple, feeling a little nervous. During the last months, she had come to the temple many times; not to pray of course (since she didn't believe in Yevon anymore), but to attend to people or to talk to priests. That was the first time she was entering a temple to try to find her own answers. She decided to finally get in. Inside the temple seemed like nothing had changed, like time had stopped inside those once sacred walls. There was still that dark environment, every stone had a shadow, inside of her head, she could still hear the Hymn of the Faith; there were some priests walking around and some elders that couldn't leave old habits behind still populated the temple. She looked at the statues, the ones that represented the High Summoners before her, and wondered how it would be if she had died like them, would that be a statue of her, maybe right next to her father's? When she was just an apprentice, she dreamed about the day when she would have her place on the temples; not because of the fame or prestige, but because that would mean that she could bring a new calm to Spira. And now, she had brought the calm and she was alive; she had made history, more than those Summoners had ever made. But still, she wasn't happy, still she cried for what she really wanted, for who she lost while making history...

- I bet he would be proud.

She suddenly woke up from her thoughts hearing the words of someone behind her, and turned around quickly.

- Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, Lady Summoner.

- T-that's alright.

She looked to the man trying to remember who he was, but then he realized she had never seen him before. He was tall, had a well build body, slightly pale, short dark hair and one of his green and deep eyes had a little scar. His face was strong, severe, angular, but mysterious at the same time.

- May I ask who are you?

- I'm just someone who carries the truth behind many of Yevon's lies. - He said that with a small mysterious smile of his face, and then turned to Lord Braska's statue. - That's your father's statue, right? I bet he would be proud of you.

"Oh, no..." She thought that the man was just another Truth Seeker trying to make her support their cause. It was strange the fact that the man didn't tell his name, though; usually Truth Seekers were people seeking not only truth, but fame and prestige too.

- I guess... I'll have to ask you to excuse me, I have something I have to do right now. - the last thing she wanted right now was to chat with some one about her pilgrimage, Sin or something related to that.

- Sure. I may leave you alone then. - and said this the man turned around and looked to the temple, like if he was examining it.

"That was too easy..." In fact, Yuna was expecting the man to try to stop her, to start talking about "how great was their cause" or about "the things she could do with the truth seekers"; but not this man, this one actually left her alone. "Thank Yevon..." It was funny the way she still said "thank Yevon". "I guess is one of those old habits you can't get rid of..."

She walked towards the stairway that lead to the Cloister of Trials. At every step of the stairway that she gave, she thought if she should do that: return to the Chamber of the Faith, to try to speak to the Faith... "Bah! What the hell!" There was no Sin anymore, Yevon's religion was dead to her, so there should be no problem. She entered to the Cloister of Trials, the very first one she had ever entered. She still remembered that day, walking in that same stone ground with Lulu and Kimahri.

" - Are you sure you want to do this? - Lulu asked after she gave her first steps at the Cloister.

- Yes, I am. - she simply answered.

- You can go back at any time, you know that?

- Yes. But I won't. I've made my decision already."

It was funny how Lulu and Wakka tried to stop her from becoming a Summoner until the very last moment. "But I guess it's not funny at all... They just wanted to save me..."

Shaking her head and her memories away, Yuna continued to walk trough the path that would lead to the Chamber. She passed by the glyphs, the many words craved with magic on the walls, the shining spheres... she passed by a partially destroyed wall, with an opened chest behind it; on the floor there was a pile of broken rocks and a shining red sphere. "The destruction sphere..."

She had always wondered why should there be treasures in every Cloister of Trials, and why did the spheres required to find them were called "destruction spheres".

"I guess this was what Yevon was all about. Destroy something to gain something valuable; kill Sin to gain peace; sacrifice a live to bring a calm..."

She continued her way to the elevator and went down; on the lower floor, she walked trough the corridor, until she reached a small room. She walked to the stairway that lead to the Chamber, and right before she entered it, she looked back. Again, she remembered that day when she became a Summoner...

When she got out of the Chamber of the Faith, feeling weak. She looked around, watching Lulu and Wakka as they watched her with preoccupation. She thought that it was weird that Wakka was there since he didn't go with her, Lulu and Kimahri during the Cloister of Trials... "Why did he come now?" And there was also this blonde man dressed in strange clothes, looking at her with a confused face; "who is he?" He was not a guardian for sure. But that didn't matter then; she made it.

"I've done it. I have become a summoner!"

Now that she thought about that, she realized that that day must have been one of the days that most marked her life; it was the day when she become a Summoner, it was the day when she summoned her first Aeon, it was the day when she met him. After that day, everything changed.

She stepped in to the Chamber, without knowing what to expect; just hoping she could find some answers.

--

Sitting on the small stairway outside the temple, her right arm resting on her knee while her injured arm was just fallen, her hand touching the cold rock. The Sun was now high, burning the skin of the people who weren't careful enough to walk in the shadows, and burning Yuna's hope. She found nothing. No Faith, no clues, no answers. "What was I expecting anyway?" She let out a desperate sigh. "Now what?" Was she going to stay weeks waiting to hear the voice again? No way, she had to do something! "But what?..." The only thing she could think of, was to search somewhere else, but again, where? What did she know about that voice that could lead her to somewhere? The only clue about that was that she knew the voice was a dream of the Faith (whatever that might be) and was once a human. She decided she had to find out what a "dream of the Faith" was. "How can a person be like an Aeon?... That makes no sense at all."

She felt someone behind her.

- Are you okay, lady? - it was the same tall pale guy that had approached her before she entered in the Cloister of Trials.

- Yes... yes, I am. - she tried, unsuccessfully, to sound confident as she got up.

- You sure? You seem a little disturbed. - he asked, as he looked to the young Summoner, like if he was inspecting her.

- Yeah, don't worry about me please.

- Very well. - and said this the man walked away, towards the huts of the village. "That was too easy again. This is no ordinary Truth Seeker..." Wait, Truth Seeker? That gave Yuna an idea.

- Wait, sir! - she called for the mysterious man and tried to walk in his direction, but that sudden movement made a wave of pain rush trough her arm. The man turned around and walked in the direction of Yuna, without caring about her pain; his face completely emotionless.

- You called, lady?

- Y-yes. - she said as she tried to regain her posture. - You are... a Truth Seeker, right?

The man remained some seconds silent, until he answered.

- Well, yes I am... Can I help you in any way?

- Maybe.

* * *

_End of Chapter 13_

I've been writing at a very slow pace due to the school exams I have in 2 or 3 weeks... So, gotta study hard! Which means I have very few time to write :-( ... But I still write! So, you can expect a new chapter in... 2 or 3 weeks. Yeah, it's a long time, but school comes first, If I don't have good grades my mom cuts the Internet off (and with no Internet, there is no new chapters here) :P

And as for Sanchez' question (about Yuna summoning Tidus), I can't say because I don't wanna spoil the story. And I won't even say if Tidus is going to be back in Spira! Ehehe... don't worry, Tidus is in there, somewhere... I'll just say that he'll become more present (alive or "dead") in future chapters.

Anyway, enjoy! ;-)


	14. Changes

Part II

**Chapter 14**

* * *

He thought about his encounter with the High Summoner as he walked towards his small tent outside the village

He thought about his encounter with the High Summoner as he walked towards his small tent outside the village. It surely didn't go as he was expecting. Actually, he thought that it was extremely awkward, he didn't know what to think about the young Summoner after the events that took place during the day. Well, he wasn't expecting anything in concrete for his meeting, but he surely wasn't expecting her to ignore him or to think he was a Truth Seeker.

He arrived to the small improvised camp and checked that it was everything as he had left; he picked a bottle of sake from his backpack and sited under a tree, his back resting on the trunk. He thought again about that day as he drank a mouthful of the sake; he closed his eyes enjoying his drink and reflecting over what the Summoned had said to him.

"Dreams of the Fayth eh? Where did that come from?..." Dreams of the Fayth. That was what the High Summoner asked him to search for during their conversation a while ago. He didn't know what was weirder: the fact that she wanted to know more about the subject, or the way she completely avoided saying the reasons for her curiosity. "It's just something I have to figure out..." she had simply answered."How can she know about it? And what was she doing at the temple? I thought she didn't follow the New Yevon party." He drank another mouthful of the bottle of sake as he tried to understand the Summoner's actions.

"Maybe I shouldn't trust so much in what some people say..." Before he went to Besaid, he tried to collect as many information about Yuna as he could, so he could be prepared. He heard that she refused to support any group or party, and that she was always available to attend to anyone that wanted to meet her. "But she was at a temple... going to the Cloister of Trials... and she asked for my help thinking I was a Truth Seeker... what's she up to? Also, when I was going to talk to her, she asked me to leave... so much for the "always available" thing."

And again, that "dream of the Fayth" thing came to his mind; although that was a constant part of his life, he didn't think a lot about it. But now that the Summoner talked about it, he wondered what could have happened for her to even think about "dreams of the Fayth" ..."Maybe I should continue to pretend I'm a Truth Seeker... This is going to be more fun than I had imagined!"

He heard steps coming in his direction and immediately opened his eyes.

- We finally found you!

He smiled as he saw his two partners arriving at his small camp.

- What are you guys doin' here? I thought you thought I was crazy!

- We do. - the woman answered - I guess we are just as crazy as you are, Marckus.

- No you're not! I came first! Ah! - he let out a big laugh and got up. He looked to the two people in front of him, confirming that they had no tents - Hmm... You didn't bring tents to sleep?

- Well, we thought about sleeping in the crusader's hut- this time it was the man talking.

- Too bad; I was expecting you guys to sleep on a tent like we used to do in the old times, remember?

- Wait, you were expecting us to come? - Celia inquired as she raised an eyebrow.

- Of course! I must be like a drug to you, don't I? - he crouched next to his backpack and inserted the bottle of sake in one of the many pockets.

- What? - Josh's inquired, as he tried to understand what Marckus had said.

- You know... - Marckus got up and laughed - I'm a bad influence to you guys, and you know it; but you keep following me.

- How funny,... - Celia's voice was filled with sarcasm - We came after you because... well, it seems that we are really as crazy as you are. This thing with the Summoner might be fun after all...

- Yeah. - Josh continued - That thing you said about being sited doing nothing... well, I decided we didn't want that! And, talking about the Summoner, have you already seen her around?

- Yes, I did. - he was with a playful smile on his face - and it seems to me that we'll have to do a change on our plans...

- What do you mean?

Marckus sited heavily on the same spot he was before, and made a gesture to his companions to sit down too.

- Come on, are you going to stay the whole day standing up like that?

With this the two looked at each other, and then sited in the ground.

- So, our initial plan was to tell the Summoner what we know, right?

The other two adventurers nodded in agreement.

- But, after our little chat today, I think we should leave that for later...

- Your little chat? You mean you've already talked to her? - Josh's voice was slightly exited.

- Yep! And it got me a little confused, I must say...

- I thought you were never confused - Celia joked.

- Well, that girl really got me gazed. She was nothing like I expected.

- Really? - Josh and Celia asked simultaneously.

- Well, you know she just had this accident that almost killed her. Maybe she is altered, recovering from it. - Celia said.

- Maybe... But I don't think it's that... I thought that she was just a shy girl, spending her life attending to those stupid people day after day... but I must say that I gained some respect for her after today.

This last sentence made both Josh and Celia very confused. Marckus was the kind of person who respected a very small number of people; not that he was rude to the other people, but it was very hard to gain his true respect.

- She is, how should I say?... Not an average person. I look forward to meet her again sometime.

- Hhmm... so, what was that about changing the plans? - Josh asked.

- Oh, right. So let's start in the beginning... - Marckus told them the dialogue in the temple, and the small conversation they had outside the temple: how she thought he was a Truth Seeker and asked if he knew something about the "dreams of the Fayth". - As you can see, there are some things I find very awkward in all this.

- Yeah... That is all very weird. How the hell does she know about the "dreams of the Fayth"? - Celia leant back on another tree as she thought about what Marckus had just said.

- She thought you were a Truth Seeker? Why should she think that?

- No idea. Maybe because I told her I "knew the truth"... Anyway, she didn't really know anything about the dreams of the Fayth, she just asked me if I knew something about it... at least I think she doesn't know nothing...

- You told her anything? – Josh seemed worried.

- Of course not! You think I'm crazy? – Marckus gave him a ironic look.

- You think it might be related to Sin's death? I mean, the fact that she says it's the definitive Sin's death?... – Celia interrupted, hoping that the two men didn't start to argue with each other.

- I don't know... I still don't believe that Sin is dead for good; but it could be related. The weird thing is that the Summoner seemed like she didn't have a clue about what a dream of the Faith was, but she must have heard about it somewhere...

The group was silenced during some seconds, until Josh talked.

- So, what do we do now?...

- If the Summoner thinks Marckus is a Truth Seeker, I think we could take advantage of that, to find out more...

- Yes. I'll say we stick around, maybe I can get to talk to the Summoner again; maybe you get to talk with her too.

--

- Are... you sure about this?

- Yes. And I had already said before that I intended to leave Besaid...

- I know, but...

- "But" nothing. - the black mage looked at her impressed, not expecting this interruption - I'm going to leave. Period. And there is nothing you can say or do that would change my mind.

She had made her decision; she didn't care about where she was going or what she was going to do, she just wanted to leave Besaid, to break the routine, to start again. And Rikku's proposal seemed the best way to do it. A few days ago the young Al-Bhed went to the island with a proposal that pissed off Lulu, but Yuna found it to be the best way to break away from her boring life.

- A Past Hunter - Rikku explained - is someone that searches for any kind of stuff that could reveal more about Spira's past.

- But, isn't that what the Truth Seekers already do? - Wakka asked.

- More or less... Well, Truth Seekers search for the same stuff, and try to discover the World's history... We just hunt that stuff, and then sell it to whoever gives more Gil for it. We don't worry about the content of what we find, we just discover and sell. That's all! And it's funny that Truth Seekers now rarely find things for themselves... they prefer to buy them from people like us... from Past Hunters!

- Seems interesting... and how does it really work? - Yuna was beginning to feel interested.

- Well... it's kinda random, you see? We just roam around and search... sometimes we are asked to find something, sometimes we follow hints from people... Well, we have this airship that I and Brother found,... we use it to travel around Spira; that is where we live too. It has some vacant rooms, so...

So she invited Yuna to be part of the crew. First Yuna reflected about the subject, until she decided that she was going to accept. Actually, she thought that it was perfect, it was exactly what she had been looking for. She could finally break the cycle of boredom that was again invading her life... and maybe find out more about "dreams of the Faith".

- Lulu, Wakka - she directed her look to the guardians as she said their names - I appreciate everything. And I mean really everything; your company when we were children, the strength you gave while in the Pilgrimage, all the dedication... and you will always be like my older brother and sister. But I can't stay here forever, I have to begin living my own life.

--

"So, this is what it feels like..."

Funny, that wasn't the first time she said that. She remembered saying that months ago; months? Almost a year! But she remembered saying that while recording that sphere, the one that he recorded to his guardians and friends, to say goodbye.

"... Freedom."

Freedom. Love. Those were the situations when she said that short sentence, when she discovered new and fantastic feelings. And all because of him. If it wasn't for him, she wouldn't have known what love was all about, nor she had survived to know what freedom is about. But now, standing there in the airship's deck, feeling the wind in her face, she knew, that was how it felt like.

"Thank you."

She was happy... Was she? Well, at least she wasn't so sad, so depressed. Joining Rikku and the rest of the Past Hunters gave her a new life, a new occupation, and a new view on the world. Actually, being there was probably the best thing that had happened to her; or at least the best thing after him. That was how she saw him now: as the best thing that had ever happened to her. She still thought about him every day, wishing he was there with them, but now, instead thinking that she should be miserable because he wasn't there, she thought that she should be happy because she had him with her, even if it was for a short time... she felt blessed.

Unfortunately, "the voice" hasn't talked to her lately, and she didn't make any progresses to find out more about "dreams of the Fayth". But she was having a good time with her cousin and the rest of the crew. She had participated in some activities, or "hunts", as Rikku liked to call them; they were always fun and somewhat dangerous, but they never got in any serious trouble yet. When not "in action", they spent their times in the airship doing some minor tasks or just enjoying the free time (this was what Yuna tried to avoid, since she usually got sad when she had nothing to do, when her mind had time to think about the past...).

- Hey! You there! - a cheerful voice pierced trough the air, waking up Yuna from his thoughts. - Buddy's calling, we must have another hunt beginning!

- Alright! - she turned around and left the airship's deck with Rikku.

- So, what were you doin' up there?

- Nothing in special, just enjoying the wind...

- Watch out, Brother sometimes gets a little crazy with the ship. If he makes some brusque movement...

- Don't worry, I promise I won't fall of. - Yuna said, joking.

- Yeah, yeah, we don't want anyone dying in this ship! It would be baaaad publicity to us! – she said with a giggle.

- Publicity?

Rikku and Yuna entered in the elevator that would take them to the down floor.

- Yeah. Buddy says that we are becoming famous hunters, so we might need some more people in the group.

- I see... - now that she thought about it, Buddy was probably right. There were some situations when an extra help would be very appreciated.

The elevator's door opened and the two women walked to the ship's control room.

- What's up?

- Trouble at the temple. - it was Shinra who answered.

- What temple? - Yuna asked.

- Djose.

- Seems that two guys entered in the Cloister Of Trials. - Buddy informed.

- So what? - Rikku wasn't understanding why was that a problem.

- So, the priests didn't like that and asked for our help.

- And why should we help them? That's not our problem...

- Well... - Buddy looked at Yuna. - They say that only a Summoner can enter in the Cloister.

She couldn't believe. They were calling her because she was a Summoner?!

- Well, I'm a Summoner no more. That times are over, Sin is dead. There should be no problem if some one else entered in the Cloister.

- That's not how they see things... They almost begged for help. They must be really desperate.

"Unbelievable." Yuna sighed. The fact that some people couldn't get over the past, couldn't realize that those habits were now pointless, annoyed her a lot, revolted her. She fought against Sin, defeated it, defeated Yevon and she lost Tidus in this fight! And there were people still worshipping Yevon?

- Well,... - despite all the revolt she felt about it, she still had that part of her that didn't let her refuse someone's help calls, that part of her that was always ready to help the others... - let's do it, then. We don't have any hunt or anything like that right now, right?

- Hmm... yeah, I guess... But I still don't agree with this Cloister/Summoner thing. It's kinda retarded.

- Don't say that... I mean... We must give them time to get used to this, you know, Sin being dead?

- Oh, come on! That was almost a year ago already!

- But what's a year compared to a thousand years with Sin here? - this time it was Buddy talking

- You decide fast! I must know where to go! - Brother was starting to get impatient.

- To Djose! - Buddy shouted.

- LET'S GO DJOSE!

- There he goes again... see, Yuna, this is one of those moments when no one should be in the deck!

--

- So, there are really more new-comers, eh?

"What?"

"Who's there?"

- Oh, yeah, you are really there...

"Who are you? What are you talking about?"

- Me? Just someone, unlike you.

"Ah?"

- Isn't it what you are? Some piece of nothing, roaming around nowhere? hmm...

"Wait, are you a Fayth?"

- A Fayth? No, no,... I'm...

"Are you in Mi'hen too?!"

- Mi'hen?

"Just shut up, boy! Let him talk!"

"Oh, now you believe that someone is there uh?!"

"I..."

"See, you never believe me! But I was right this time!"

"Just calm down, okay? You said you heard a woman. And this voice is definitely a man, and I don't believe he is human, that's impossible."

- Not human, you say? Well, surprise yourself, I really am.

"No, that's..."

"Impossible? Just let him talk, old man!"

"Hey, you were the one who interrupted him first!"

- Now, now, calm down; you are two?

'Yes"

"Yeah"

- Strange... All the other times there was only one survivor. You are lucky.

"Lucky, are you kidding me?"

"Survivors? Of what?"

- Wait, first things first. I guess you already know what you are...

"What do you mean?"

- A dream of the Fayth.

"Oh, that, yeah... Wait, how do you know that?!"

- I know many things, including turning dreams into reality.

"Ah?..."

"You can get us out if here?!"

- Yeah, I know a way to do it...

* * *

_End of Chapter 14_

Here you have it, 14th chapter; it's the biggest so far. It's funny the way I write more when under pressure (the pressure from the school! Ugh!). I thought about turning this one to two chapters, but then... naahh... big chapters are cool xD At least that's what I think; I prefer reading one big chapter than two small chapters... I prefer to wait for a bigger chapter than have two small chapters in two days.

Anyway, hope you like it ;)


	15. Encounter

Part II

**Chapter 15**

* * *

The airship landed abruptly in the area in front of the Djose Temple, and soon the group (Rikku, Yuna, Brother and Buddy) came out

The airship landed abruptly in the area in front of the Djose Temple, and soon the group (Rikku, Yuna, Brother and Buddy) came out. None of them had gone there since Sin was defeated (Buddy and Brother had never been there at al), nothing interesting had ever happened there. It was still the same isolated rocky temple as it was before, with the small travel agency (it seems that Rin didn't invest much on Djose's travel agency since Sin was dead, which made sense since almost anyone went there) and the old rock floor. The only difference was that there was no electric energy surrounding the temple now, so, there was no energy at all to keep the gigantic rocks that surround the temple floating; this caused the rocks to fall to the ground, and now there was a small chaos of rocks around the temple.

- This was always so rocky? - Buddy inquired, since that was the first time he had been there.

- Yeah, rocks and rocks everywhere - Rikku answered, waving her arms to emphasize the big amount rocks - Hmmm... Some of them used to be floating, though.

- You Rikku don't talk stupid things! Rocks don't fly! - Brother just loved to turn Rikku down.

- How do you know that? You have never been here, pea-head! - and Rikku just loved to argue with Brother.

- But I know that rocks don't fly. And don't call me pea-head!

- Yuna, tell him!

- Well... - she tried to start, but...

- Nah, wait, this is between me and you! Don't bring Yuna to this!

- But...

Meanwhile, Yuna and Brother watched the scene, having a little fun with it.

- So, what's that "flying-rocks" deal?

- The rocks did used to float around the temple... - Yuna turned to the building, her back turned to Brother - The Fayth used to give energy to the rocks, electricity, to keep them floating.

- I see,... now that the Fayth have no power the rocks just fell, right?

- Yes... - when she said this last word she was already lost in her own thoughts; thinking about the first time she came here, when her guardians made fun of her because of her hair (including Auron!)... "This was the firts time he entered in the Cloister being an official guardian..."

- Oh, just forget it, let's go inside! - Yuna was taken out of her thoughts when Rikku grabbed her arm and walked towards the temple.

- Ah?

- Brother is just the most stubborn person I know! Let's go to the temple...

As soon as they entered in the rocky building, a group of priests approached them.

- Lady Yuna, thank you for coming! We need your help.

- Yes, you're welcome. So, what had really happened?

- Two men entered in the Cloister of Trials! - the priest seemed terrified as he said that.

- You've got to go there and end this sacrilege!

- Wait... I...

- Well, that's why we are here! - Rikku tried to gain the priests' attention.

- No, wait. - Yuna raised her voice and sounded almost angry. - I think you're over-reacting the situation.

The priests stared at her, completely surprised with her words.

- But, Lady Summoner, those men can't go into there, it's sacred floor!

- It was sacred floor. The Fayth don't have any power there now. I see no problem in other people other than former summoners going there.

That was the drop of water, the priests were more than surprised with her words, the words of the living High Summoner.

- But, those men,... they...

- Please, even if it's not sacred floor, it's an historical place, we must keep it safe from those "truth seeker" vandals - the priest pronounced "truth seekers" with a voice that denounced disgust, and a little bit of fear.

- I couldn't disagree more. - now Yuna was really angry - that kind of thought was what lead Spira to the "spiral of death" that it was in. Let them be there, they are searching for the truth, right? Let them! What's so wrong about it?!

- Yunnie, calm down...

Yuna let out a frustrated sigh.

- That's what I think. - she tried to sound more pacific.

The group of priests was speechless. A tense silence invaded the once-holy building, until Brother decided to break it.

- So... no hunt here? - he directed his unsure look to Yuna.

- Please, Lady Summoner...

- Well, since we're already here... - (and since she couldn't say "no" to some one asking help) - let's do this... - she walked in the direction of the Cloister's stairs without saying anything else.

--

They searched the entire Cloiser for somebody, finding only dust and a dead mouse, and were now at the entrance of the room that would lead to the chamber of the Fayth.

- Ohh... such a waste of time! - Rikku was getting annoyed with the uneventful walk in the Cloister.

- It isn't much to see here, anyway. - Yuna was still angry at the priests. - Let's go to the Chamber and finish this.

- I'm afraid I won't let you go any further.

The group stared at the young man who appeared abruptly at the Chamber Room's entrance. He was tall, light brown hair, dark brown eyes and had a nervous-looking face and posture.

- And who are you? - Rikku inquired slightly frightened.

- Doesn't matter. Now get out of here. - the man sounded threatening, his deep voice echoing in the almost-empty walls of the Cloister.

- What gives you the right to asking us to leave? - Yuna directed her anger to the man.

- OUT! - The man took a gun out of a holster and shot the ceiling of the room; this made Yuna and Rikku instantly react and take of their weapons: two daggers for Rikku and Yuna took her gun from her own holster (she wasn't very confident with using the gun yet, since that was a new kind of weapon to her).

- Hey, e-easy on there. - Buddy tried to calm down the nervous man.

- Just get the hell out of here!

- Wait. - Yuna spoke, holding her gun with both hands - You threat us and then expect us to leave, just like that?

- There is nothing to see here. Get out.

Suddenly, Brother jumped to the man's back and covered the man's eyes with one hand and punched his head with the other; this gave time for Rikku to attack the man too. But he was too fast, and managed to get rid of Brother (who fell heavily to the floor) and block Rikku's attack. Not defeated, Brother got up and, with a scream, attacked the man again, punching him on the stomach like there was no tomorrow, but again the man was faster and punched him back on the jaw, leaving Brother laying on the floor almost unconscious.

- Stop right there! - while fighting Brother and blocking Rikku, the man forgot about Yuna, and her gun was now pointed to his head. - Drop it.

- W-what?

- Your gun, drop it!

- Alright, alright... - the man opened his hand, but before the gun could hit the floor, he crouched and rammed his head against Yuna's stomach.

- No, you don't!... - Rikku attacked again the man, this time taking advantage of the fact that he was crouched, giving a kick on his head. Buddy grabbed the man's gun and run to Yuna.

- You alright?

- Yeah, I'm fine... - she said, with her voice revealing weakness, as she got up. She saw the man laying on the floor and breathing heavily.

- I've got his gun. - Buddy said.

- Who the hell does he thinks he is? - Rikku asked while checking on Brother.

- And what was he hiding?... - Yuna said in a whisper.

- Let's check it out! - Rikku stood up, already ready to enter in the Chamber's room.

- Wait, what about Brother? I don't think he's able to even get up right now!

- You stay here with him - Rikku said - Me and Yuna go to the Chamber and...

- Hey, wait! What if that guy tries to attack again? - he said, pointing to the unknown man lying on the floor.

- Oh... - Rikku's hopes for more action dissolved - What do we do then?

- I say we try to get some information from him. - Yuna said, pointing to the man with her gun.

- What I'm doing here doesn't matter to you... - the man said with a weak voice; as he talked there could be seen blood coming out from his mouth.

- You pointed a gun to us! - Rikku said angrily, and enjoying the sensation of power she had over the weak man - So it matters to us!

- You shouldn't have come here... Why did you come?

- I guess we can ask you the same. - this time Yuna talked - What are you doing here that made you point a gun to us?

- Hmm... he was right, you are not like what we hear from people, uh? What are you doing here if you don't believe in Yevon anymore, lady Summoner? - it seemed that the man recognized Yuna as the High Summoner

- What are you talking about? - Yuna seemed gazed at the man's comment.

- She's probably searching for the same thing as we are. - Another man came out from the Chamber's room with a gun on his hand (he wasn't pointing the gun to anyone, though) - Am I right, Lady Yuna?

Yuna stared at this man, recognizing him immediately.

- W-what? What are you doing here?

- You know him? - Rikku and Buddy asked simultaneously.

- Yeah, he's... hmm...

- Oh, how rude from my part! - the man interrupted - I think I haven't told my name the first time we met, did I?

Yuna's confused look answered better that words ever could.

- Marckus, at your service. - he took a bow as he said this. - That boy over there is Josh,... - he added, looking at the other young man laying on the ground. - I see you took good care of him...

- He attacked us! - Rikku was already ready to attack Marckus.

- You started... - Josh said as he tried weakly and slowly to get up.

- Hey, you had the gun!

- So did you...

- Calm down, children - Marckus talked playfully - I'm sure we can solve this like adults, right? - he helped Josh to get up and directed his look to Yuna, who was still trying to find any point of logic in all that was happening there.

- I... wait. Let's start to make some sense, okay? - the young Summoner started, trying to organize her mind - we arrived here and your friend...

- Josh.

- Your friend Josh blocked and threatened us... we had to defend ourselves.

- I understand.

- What were you doing there that is sooo important, eh? - Rikku was still suspicious about the two men.

- And what were you doing here that you wanted do badly to enter in the Chamber's room? - Marckus replied with a slightly evil grin and a playful expression on his face.

- The priests asked for our help, that's it! - Rikku answered.

- Is it true, Lady Yuna? - Marckus asked - I thought you didn't support New Yevon... But you're here, and I saw you at Besaid's temple, remember?

- You went to the temple, Yuna? - Rikku was getting more and more confused - and who the hell is he?

- And talking about that... Have you found anything about the "Dreams of the Fayth" already?

Rikku just gave up asking and gave Yuna the most confused look she had, but her cousin remained silent, as if she was keeping some secret.

- Oh, they don't know?

- I... no, I was doing this search by myself.

- Then I apologize. I thought you were with them...

- I am... but they are not part of this...

- I see... - Marckus confirmed that Yuna hadn't told anyone about the dreams of the Fayth; on one hand he felt relief, but on the other he thought it was going to be difficult to know how she found anything about it.

- You know what? - Rikku was now angry - I have no idea about what is happening here. But I know that I had a gun pointed at me, and that Yuna is somehow involved in this. I promise you I'm not gonna move from here until someone explains what is happening!

At that time Brother had already recovered his senses and was now trying to get up; he used Rikku's leg as a support, which caused them both to fall to the ground.

- What the hell?! BROTHER!

- Get of me!

- She isn't very good at keeping promises, eh? - Marckus asked Yuna, having fun with the situation.

- Let's just get out of here, I'm sick of temples.

--

After escaping from the massive wave of questions of the priests, the group reunited outside the building.

- Alright, now, who's gonna explain what't happening? - Rikku started.

- I'm not gonna say anything; it seems that Lady Yuna prefers to keep it for herself. I'm not going to interfere in that. - Marckus answered.

- I... - Yuna walked forward, facing Rikku, and then Marckus and Josh - It's not really a secret, I guess... I have to talk with them first.

- Alright, Lady Yuna. If you wish to talk to us, we'll be around. - Marckus directed his look to Josh - At least until he gets better...

With this the two men walked away to Rin's travel agency.

Yuna looked to the ground and let out a sigh, wondering how to start explaining everything to her friends.

- Ehm... Yuna? - Buddy putted a hand on Yuna's shoulder, waking her up from her thoughts. - I think I'll be going to the airship, Brother is not feeling very well.

- Right...

Buddy walked to the airship, leaving Rikku and Yuna on the rocky grounds in front of the temple.

- So... - Rikku thought if it was a good idea to ask what happened again, as she saw Yuna's embarrassment.

- I met Marckus in Besaid. - She started abruptly - He's a Truth Seeker.

- I see...

Yuna turned to Rikku.

- I was in Besaid's temple and he approached me. I thought he wanted me to join the Truth Seekers, but he didn't...

- That's weird.

- Yeah, I thought so.

- Hmm... what were you doing in the temple?

- I...That's... - Yuna thought if she should tell her cousin about the voice she heard and about the "Dream of the Fayth". On one hand she wanted to tell it to some one, exchange ideas. "Yeah, Rikku could help...". On the other hand, she was afraid that she thought she was crazy.

- Yunnie? - Rikku waved a hand in front of Yuna's eyes - Are you there?

This made Yuna wake up from her thoughts.

- Hm? Ah... Yes, I'm here. Yeah... Wait.

- What's wrong? - Rikku looked concerned - Look, I don't know what happened there - she directed his head to the rocky temple - but if you don't wanna tell, it's okay... okay?

- No, wait... - "Ahh... damn it!" - I wanna tell you... but... - she directed her eyes to the floor, and then to her cousin again.

- Hey, you can trust me. - she said, giving her a smile. Yeah, she could trust her; she was her cousin, right?

- It started when I heard this voice in my head...

* * *

_End of Chapter 15_

Here it is, new chapter. And I have a new reviewer! It's good to see that I have more than one person reading and enjoying this :) Thank you :)

And.. hhmmm... that thing about the dead mouse in the cloister, you can ignore it, it is a part of a private joke between me and a friend of mine (who is also reading this fic, but never left a review, bah! :P)


	16. Morbid Curiosity & Unanswered Questions

Part II

**Chapter 16**

* * *

- So, they really kicked your ass hard, eh

- So, they really kicked your ass hard, eh? - Celia laughed as she saw her companion lying on a bed of the travel agency's room they had rented.

- Who would say that that lady is such a good fighter? - Marckus got up from his chair and opened his bottle of sake - He's gonna be fine, give him some sake and you'll see how his strength gets back.

- Thanks' - Josh had his hand already ready to accept Marckus bottle, but...

- What, you think I was going to give my drink to you? Go get your own, man! - Marckus let out a laugh as he sited again and drank from his bottle.

- You're so lovely, Marckus, ain't you?... - Celia's voice was filled with sarcasm.

- Hey, think positive! Our plan worked.

- Not that having my body aching and blood in my mouth was a part of the plan... - Josh grunted.

Their plan was simple: get Yuna (and the rest of the crew) out of the airship and then one of them would search the airship for clues about how did her find out about the dreams of the Fayth. So, they decided that Marckus and Josh would create a distraction in the temple while Celia would sneak in to the airship.

- So, what did you found? - Marckus asked.

- Not much, that airship is a little chaotic, they surely haven't spent lots of time organizing it... I found something interesting, though. - Said this, Celia showed to the two men a recording sphere.

- A sphere, uh?... - that got Marckus' attention - What's in it?

- Watch for yourself. - Celia turned on the sphere.

It showed a record made on Mi'hen, near the travel agency. A feminine voice started to talk.

"I guess that leaves... The newest guardian. Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!

You are... I am... Well, um...

I'm glad...I'm glad that we met. We haven't even known each other long, but...

A blonde young man walks out of the travel agency and looks to the person holding the sphere.

"It's funny. So this is what it feels like. It's a much more wonderful feeling than anything I had ever imagined. Wonderful...but it hurts, sometimes. I wonder.

I... I just want to say, thank you for everything.

Maybe...maybe that's why it hurts. When I... When I think about us never being together again at all... I'm afraid.

The man starts walking in the direction of the person holding the sphere.

"No, I shouldn't say that. I'll do that part over. Um..."

The man get's close to the person holding the sphere and shouts: "Whatcha up to?"

Then the screen goes black and the record ends.

- So, what do you think? - Celia started.

- Star player of the Abes?... - Josh was thoughtful.

- Well, the voice is definitely Yuna's voice. - Marckus concluded.

- Yeah, that's what I thought. - Celia continued - Who is this guy? "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes"?

- I think... - Josh started to talk, but was interrupted by Marckus.

- Some blitzball team.

- Do you think he is... you know? - Celia was unsure of her words.

- From our Zanarkand? Maybe. It would explain why Yuna knows about the dreams of the Fayth.

- He is from our Zanarkand. I'm sure of it. - Josh talked - I know who he is.

- You do? - Marckus and Celia asked, intrigued.

- Yes... I think he's name is Tidus; he's the son of Ject.

- Please, explain yourself... - Marckus directed his attention to Josh.

- Okay,... When I lived in Zanarkand, there was this guy named Ject. He was the best blitzball player in Zanarkand and played for the Abes. He had a kid named Tidus, he used to talk about him to us...

- "Us"? - Celia asked.

- The rest of the team, I played for the Abes too. So, he used to say that his son was going to be an awesome blitzball player in the future, and sometimes he went to the practice to watch his father playing... I mean, I think he didn't like watching his father playing, they had a weird relationship...

- Yeah, yeah, what's your point? - Marckus was getting impatient.

- My point is, Ject's son is that guy on the sphere. He's Tidus, I'm sure of it. I remember seeing him on the stadium during Blitzball practice, he was only 5 or 6 years old, but I'm sure he is that guy.

- So, it really seems we have a new survivor... - Celia said - Hhm... Josh, you arrived in Spira 8 years ago, right?

- Yeah, when Sin attacked the boat where I and the rest of the Abes were in... Ject's kid wasn't there, he must have come to Spira after me.

- Right... - Marckus said - He came to Spira after you, there is no doubt about that, and you know what? There is other guy!

- Other one? - Celia seemed confused

- What, two survivors? - Josh asked.

- Yep! When I was in the temple I managed to talk to them, they were two. And they are smart, they already knew they were a dream of the Fayth.

- Amazing... - Celia said - They are lucky, they are in that weird place but at least they have each other to talk to...

- Well, I don't know about that! It seemed like they didn't like each other very much, they were arguing with each other... - Markus interrupted

- Oh, that must suck! - Celia laughed - Being locked with someone you hate, fantastic.

- And one of them said something weird... he asked if I was in Mi'hen too.

- Mi'hen? Why should you be there? - Josh inquired.

- And that's not all - Marckus said - From what I got from their discussion, one of them had already talked to some one, to a woman... - Marckus gave his two friends a playful look.

- So, you think?...

- I think that our little Summoner has been talking with them. - said this, Marckus drank some more of his drink.

- That's it! It's the only explanation, then! - Josh was now exited.

- Yeah, it fits. - Celia continued - Yuna talks to the voice, who tells her about the dreams of the Fayth. She doesn't tell anyone because she doesn't want the others to think she is crazy... It's perfect. Say, Marckus, have you told them about the way to come back?

- Well, I was going to. - Marckus looked to Josh - but then I heard gunshots and the next thing I know was that Josh had been kicked hard.

Josh gave Marckus an angry look.

- But don't worry. At least now we know what's happening here. Let's get those two guys back to Spira and then we deal with the Summoner.

--

Later on that day, after checking if Brother was alright, Yuna decided to go out to talk to Marckus, to see if he was really trying to find some more clues about the dreams of the Fayth. She walked to the travel agency and easily found the room where he was in.

- So, you decided to come back? - Marckus asked as he opened the door to Yuna.

- I have some questions for you... - she answered with a suspicious voice.

- Good. Because I have some questions for you too. - Marckus said as he walked to the center of the room. In there Yuna saw Josh sitting on a bed, leaned to some pillows; and there was other person there: a woman that she didn't recognized, she looked young, had long black hair, dark brown eyes and was leaned to the wall with an alert and serious posture.

- Is he okay? - Yuna asked, looking to Josh.

- Yeah, yeah. - Marckus laughed - he's gonna be fine, please, have a seat.

- No thanks'... - Yuna didn't have intentions to stay there for a long time; the sooner that conversation was over, the better. She didn't trust Marckus at all.

- I see... So, what do you wish to know? - Marckus asked as he sited on a chair.

- What were you really doing at the temple? - Yuna decided to be direct.

- Doing as you requested: trying to find more about that dreams of the Fayth that you told me about.

- Then why was Josh so offensive with us? - she crossed her arms.

- What? You think we were doing something bad in there? - Marckus laughed - What could we do in an old temple? Or you believe that it is still sacred floor?

- No, it's not that... - she remained silent for some seconds, and then hoped for the best and asked - So, did you find anything?...

- It depends... - Marckus was now with a playful smile of his face. - I need to know something first.

Yuna just looked at him, saying nothing.

- Say, where did you heard about the dreams of the Fayth?...

- That's not important... - she tried to continue, but was interrupted by Marckus.

- Of course it's important. Depending on the way you found, I may or may not have the information you need...

- What do you mean? - Yuna was getting annoyed with Marckus' games (and his arrogant smile was making her mad), but her curiosity made her continue the conversation.

- Look, why is that a big mystery? Why don't you wanna say how you found about this? - the woman asked, sounding angry.

- Because you have nothing to do with it. - Yuna was getting impatient and angry too; who does that woman think she is?

- Calm down, Celia. - Marckus got up, talking to the woman- but, really, why the big mystery? That could help our investigation, you know?

- As far as I understand, you already know something, but you don't want to tell me.

- We do it like this, you tell us where you heard about the dreams of he Fayth, and we tell you what we know.

- Why can't you just tell me? - now Yuna was getting really angry; those guys didn't have to know how she knew about that dreams of the Fayth, and they were being really annoying. And what was that big curiosity for? Couldn't they just keep their nose out of her business?

- Okay, we ain't going anywhere with this... - the woman talked again.

- Wait, Celia... - a evil smile appeared in Marckus' face - Say, Lady Summoner, maybe you talked to someone about it, let's say, some spiritual inspiration? Some voice in your head told you about the dreams? - he crossed his arms.

That sudden reference to "voices" made her wonder... "No way... Maybe they are just trying to guess..."

- Why is it relevant... - Yuna tried to speak, but was interrupted again by Marckus, who seemed to be ignoring what she said.

- Or maybe a friend of yours? Someone from Zanarkand? Have you ever been in Zarankand, lady? - Marckus asked, obviously having fun with the situation.

- Of course I've been in Zanarkand. Are you joking with me?

- No, no... not that pile of ruins. – Marckus shacked his head slowly - The real Zanarkand; the one that's filled with life and light, where you can watch a glorious blitzball game and then celebrate through the night! Isn't it, Josh? - Marckus directed his look to the injured man on the bed.

- Yep, the city that never sleeps...

- Have you ever been there, Lady Yuna?

She just froze. The real Zanarkand, the city that never sleeps. How did they know about that? She recalled Tidus's words, all that he had told her about his Zanarkand. "Tidus..."

- Of course not. That city was destroyed a long time ago, right? - Marckus continued - Or maybe someone told you about it? Was is some guardian of yours? Of course, I'm assuming that Tidus was your guardian, right?

- How d-...? - she tried to speak, but she was too confused to do it.

- How do I know this? I know many things... - Marckus walked in her direction, shortening the space between them. With this she gave some steps backwards, feeling a little scared with the whole situation. Who was that possible? How did they know about Tidus? And Zanarkand? And why the morbid curiosity?

Marckus grabbed her wrist and she just remained with no reaction.

- Tell me, do you really wanna know about the dreams? You know that all the knowledge has a price?...- Marckus said with a soft (but threatening) voice and with his green eyes locked on her bi-colored eyes.

- Let me go! - she finally reacted, pushing him back and walking towards the room's door.

- I thought so. - Marckus laughed. - But tell me, before you leave, have you been in Mi'hen lately?

She just continued walking. That was too much; Zanarkand, Tidus,... Mi'hen? She didn't care. Just the reference to Zanarkand and Tidus was enough to mess with her feelings; she couldn't stand it. And that allied to the fact that Marckus was acting weird and threatening her... She just wanted to get out of there. She left the travel agency and walked to the airship without looking back, as she tried to find some logic on what had just happened.

* * *

_End of Chapter 16_

I finally ended this chapter. Some days ago I was trying to write but I was stuck with a severe inspirational crisis. Oh, and,... some more weeks and school work will be over! I will be able to post chapters like I used to do when I started to write this fic (average of one chapter per week), yay! Until then I just ask my readers to be patient :P ...


	17. Connections?

Part II

**Chapter 17**

* * *

The following days were pretty awkward for Yuna and the rest of the group

The following days were pretty awkward for Yuna and the rest of the group. Yuna was constantly thinking about what Marckus had said, trying to understand how he knew about Tidus and Zanarkand. She just wished she could talk with the voice once more. Buddy and Brother were making an inventory on the stuff they had on the ship, as Buddy suspected that the ship had been robbed and Shinra spent most of his time in the travel agency chatting with the Al-Bhed people there. Rikku just helped where she could. This crazy routine was broken when they received a call from Wakka, asking them if they wanted to go to Luca.

- Hey! Now that's what I call a good idea! - Rikku said enthusiastically. - We can go see the Blitz tournament!

This year's tournament was starting, so everyone agreed that it was a good idea to ease everyone's minds. So, in the same day they landed on Mi'hen, right next to the Highroad Travel Agency.

- Uhh... Buddy? You know that this is not Luca, right? - Rikku asked as she got out of the airship.

- It's impossible to land the ship in Luca these days, it's crowded with people and ships... and airships!

- Airships got very popular lately. They're a much faster way to transport the players from their homelands to the tournament. - Shinra added. - Bad thing that no one used them before the Eternal Calm...

- Actually, it's a good thing that they didn't use them... otherwise I would have been in serious trouble last year. - Yuna giggled.

- What do you mean? - Rikku asked as the group started walking in Luca's direction.

- Last year... some Al-Bhed kidnapped me and took me to their ship. They wanted to hold me hostage until the Aurochs decided to forfeit the game that they were having against the Al-Bhed team; fortunately, Tidus, Lulu and Kimahri found me. If they used an airship I would be in trouble.

- What? They kidnapped you because of Blitzball? - Buddy laughed - No way!

- I bet that even if the Aurochs gave up the game, the Al-Bhed would have lost anyway - Shinra said – the Al-Bhed suck at blitzball, even we could win them easily.

- What? You wanna start a Blitzball team? - Rikku asked, amused - That would be fun! Just imagine the crowd cheering for us at the stadium!

- Yuna had already tried that! - Brother shouted. - During the speech, the stadium was cheering for you! You must have felt great, right?

Yuna recalled that day, the whole stadium there, hundreds of people around her, but no one to actually make her feel less lonely.

- Yeah... it was... great - she lied. Rikku noticed Yuna's change of mood, and tried to bring the happiness back.

- So... Who would be the goal keeper?

- Me not for sure - Shinra started - I'm too short for it.

- I don't know, I wanna be at defense. - Buddy dreamed.

- You three would be at defense then - Rikku said, pointing to Buddy, Brother and Shinra - Me and Yunie would attack! - and said this she punched the air, almost hitting Buddy in the jaw.

- That would be fun, yeah... - Yuna said - I would grab the ball and just go forward...

- Yeah! Then the crowd would go crazy! And we would dedicate them all them goal! - Rikku continued, excited as she was really living that scene.

- No. - Yuna interrupted - During a game, you have to think of blitz and nothing else. And you can't be thinking about who is watching, because the moment you do that, that's when you lose!

- Hey, having deep thoughts, uh?... - Buddy joked. - It's kind of weird imagining you playing Blitzball.

- How come? - Yuna looked at Buddy, intrigued.

- You know... It just doesn't fit you.

- Well, she thought that she could never get used to the guns, and look at her now! - Rikku argued.

- Nah, he's right. Blitzball doesn't fit me at all.

- Well people change. How knows if someday you'll walk around with a Blitz uniform... or an army uniform, or maybe a cheerleader? With those really short shorts and tops, and...

- Hey, stop that! - Yuna was getting scared - What's your point?

- I don't know. I was just playing with the situation, I guess.

- Yeah, but putting Yuna in a cheerleader outfit? - Shinra asked - That's a little bit too much.

Yuna tried to imagine himself as Rikku described, and felt nauseated.

- Let's not go there again... - she just said. - After all, you were the one who wore those weird clothes...

- What's wrong with my clothes? - Rikku protested.

- Their color is the exact color of your skin... - Yuna laughed.

- Well, from that point of view, maybe Rikku would be the one using a cheerleader outfit! - Buddy laughed even harder - Wearing just a bikini, with Yuna too!

The two girls looked at each other, pissed.

- Wow! Girls in bikini! Then they would dance for us. - now it was Brother who was becoming delirious.

- Okay, that's enough! You two are dead meat! - Rikku said as she started running after Brother; Buddy just tried to keep out of her sight, laughing uncontrollably.

--

Later on that day they arrived at Luca. It was a hot Summer day, but the cool sea breeze, allied to the fact that it was almost night, set the perfect mood for a walk trough the city. The Aurochs would only arrive tomorrow, so Buddy and Brother went to some bar, Shinra stayed at the hotel that they were staying in, and the two cousins went for a walk without any destination.

- This is really a big city. - Rikku commented, as they walked through the docks and looking to the tall buildings. - Hard to believe that this is just the second largest city, uh? - she waited for Yuna to talk, but she got no answer, so she added - Like, Bevelle is even bigger than this...

She looked to Yuna to see why she wasn't talking at all, and found her gazing to the vast ocean, totally absent from that conversation.

- Yuna?... - this time Rikku stopped walking and touched her shoulder, which made Yuna wake up from her day dreaming and look at her.

- What? Sorry, I...- she lowered her head - I wasn't listening. I'm sorry. What were you saying?...

- Is everything okay, Yunie? - Rikku asked, trying to follow Yuna's eyes.

- Yeah,... I was just... thinking... - they both started walking again - The blitz season is starting... again. Like, It's been a year since I've been here.

- Well... - Rikku wasn't sure where Yuna was trying to get to, but said, joking - I guess that time really passes away, right?

- Yeah... It feels like just yesterday I was here with Wakka, Lulu, Kimahri,... Tidus... - she lowered her voice when saying that last name.

"Oh, no..." Rikku thought to herself.

- Seems like yesterday... - she repeated - but other times feels like a lot more... I don't know. - Yuna stopped walking and looked again to the sea. - Things changed too much in a year.

- But we can't keep things like they are forever. - Rikku tried to say something to help.

They remained some moments in silence, Yuna lost in her own thoughts and Rikku unsure if she should say something.

- But we should be able to keep some things forever. Things that would stay here,... always. - Yuna said, without taking her eyes out of the blue ocean.

- Yuna, I... I know what you mean. And maybe you're right... - Rikku tried to cheer her up - I wished you're right. If someone deserved to keep something precious forever, that would be you.

- Thanks, but it's too late for that... - she looked to the ground.

- Who knows? - Rikku was going to say something more, but then she thought about what she had just said. "Who knows?" It was a legit question, but no one had ever thought about that. "Yeah, who knows?..." Who knows what happened to Tidus? Who knows? Is there a way to get him back? Who knows? Why did he fade away like that?

- Do you know? - Rikku asked.

- What? - her cousin asked back, confused.

- Why did he fade away?...

Yuna remained silent. She had no idea, but that wasn't the first time she asked herself that. Actually, she wondered about that everyday; why? But now that it was Rikku asking, she realized that she hadn't found any answer at all; every time she began thinking about that, other question used to come to her mind: why bother? He was dead, right?... Right?

- I... don't know... Because,... he died? - She surprised herself with the thought; it was the first time that she was considering the chance of Tidus being alive... or, at least, not dead as they thought.

- I don't know. - the two girls sited on some empty crates on the dock - He just disappeared with no motive at all. The Fayth disappeared, the Aeons disappeared, and Tidus disappeared. I don't understand it.

- Yeah, it makes no sense - Yuna looked at her cousin, surprised with her chain of ideas. She never thought about that that way, was there a connection? The Fayth, the Aeons, Tidus? "Wait..." Suddenly, she felt like she had received a punch on her stomach.

- Everything alright? - Rikku looked concerned as she watched Yuna, who looked like she had been suddenly waken up from a violent dream.

- Like, the Aeons disappear, right? And Tidus fades... And the guy, he said that he was like an Aeon. - she turned her face to Rikku - Do you think?...

- Wait, calm down and talk slower! - Rikku was confused with all that. First, she was the one who was compulsive, not Yuna. And second, who is she talking about? - What guy?...

- The... that voice! He said... - Yuna tried to recall the voice's words - He said he was like an Aeon, right?

Rikku stood some more moments lost, until she realized that Yuna was talking about the voice that claimed to be a "dream of the Fayth".

- Ahm... Okay...?

- If he was like an Aeon, if the Aeons disappear, the voice,... or whoever the voice was when it was human would disappear as well.

The Al-Bhed was shocked and confused. "Maybe she's right!... Maybe the voice really is him!"

- I... Wow... - she was really speechless.

- It makes sense,... - Yuna looked to her cousin, trying to know her opinion. - doesn't it?

- Yeah... It makes a lot of sense!

It made sense. The voice said that it was human before, right? But it was also like an Aeon; so, if the Aeons fade, he would fade as well. That's why it said that it was a dream of the Fayth! The Aeons only came to help the Summoners because they summoned them, and by doing that, the Fayth dreamed about the Aeon, and the Aeon appears. Then, the Fayth stopped dreaming, and the Aeon vanishes. Just like the voice! "And like Tidus?..."

- I remember the voice saying that it would come back somehow, it just would.

Yuna got up, walked to the edge of the dock and called for him; she whistled. And then she whistled again.

"Will you really come?"

Rikku came after her.

- Then, let's help it to come back!

Yes, help it to come back, at any cost. "If it's really you..." Was it really Tidus? She wanted to find out. If it really was him, then she... she what? Having Tidus back would be the ultimate happiness for her, something she had never experienced before, but in some few moments in Macalania. On the other hand, if it wasn't Tidus... she didn't care. If it wasn't Tidus then nothing else cared. Suddenly, she felt scared. What if it isn't him? What if this small ray of hope was nothing more than an illusion? She wouldn't handle it, she would probably become seriously depressed once more and try to give up life again; it wasn't worth living without him. She realized that even being with Rikku and the rest of the crew, traveling in the airship, living those small adventures... despite all that she always felt that a part of her was missing, empty. In every place visited she would recall this or that situation that happened during the pilgrimage, and Tidus was always there; during every action scene she would think about how easy that would have been if Tidus was there, slashing the fiends with his sword; and every peaceful moment, she would try to get busy in order not to think about him.

So she didn't care. She had nothing to loose but that small piece of hope that kept her alive. If she lost it, it was over, nothing else would worth living.

- Hhhmm... look, if the voice really is Tidus... Why is he a "dream of the Fayth"?

- I don't know... but I think Marckus does...

She had to come back to Marckus, even if she was a little afraid of him right now. He knew something, that was for sure. And this time, Yuna didn't care about saying anything Marckus would want to know. Any information she could give him was a low price to discover if Tidus was really the voice; anything Yuna could give seemed like a low price to pay for Tidus.

But she wanted some time to think about everything that she thought she might have discovered, time to reflect and think about the better way to deal with all of this.

- Let's go see Marckus after the tournament...

- Yep! - Rikku exclaimed - But now let's go back to our room, I'm getting cold.

It was indeed getting cold. It was already night, there were lights on almost every window. Yuna looked to the ocean one more time, saw the moon's light reflected on it, and whistled one more time.

* * *

_End of Chapter 17_

I'm sorry for the late update, but I have the same old excuse... school, bah. Anyway, three things:

1) Thanks to my new reviewers for the positive reviews. I never thought I would get so many reviews as I have right now, I thought that everyone had already forgot about FFX,... but I guess that great games are always famous, right? :) So, thank you for your support.

2) iwasnthere noted a mistake in chapter 10... yes, the correct music is, indeed, 'Hurt', and not 'Something I Can Never Have', as I wrote... I have no idea why I confused the musics :P Thanks for detecting that, I'll fix it ;) (and it's fun to know that that is another NIN fan reading this xD)

3) Obvious critic to FFX-2 in this chapter... Yes, I hate that game, it ruined FFX's spirit. I'm trying to put only the 'good parts' of it in this fic so, please don't imagine Yuna in her FFX-2 outfit during this fic... imagine her dressed with something in between FFX and FFX-2... I don't know, use your imagination! (I suck at describing clothes, and I lack the correct vocabulary to do it :P)


	18. The Way Out

Part II

**Chapter 18**

* * *

- I'm sorry

- I'm sorry... - Josh whispered as he came out of the dark corner and grabbed the priest that was walking by the temple. The priest screamed and tried to break free, but Celia casted a spell to put the man unconscious.

- Let's get out of here, now! - Celia whispered to her partner as he picked the sleeping yevonite from the ground.

- Hey, calm down. - 'Why does Celia has to be always in a rush?...' - Let's just focus on not being seen, alright?

- That guy had already screamed, the rest of the priests will be here in a few minutes, we have no time to be discrete. - she said, as she started to walk fast to the doors of the temple. - You should have covered his mouth, you're an idiot.

- Whatever you say... - Josh grunted to himself and started to walk after Celia, while carrying the priest.

They got out of the temple, putted the priest's limp body inside a bag and started to walk through the streets. Even with the decreasing amount of yevonites, Bevelle was still considered the religious capital of Spira, and it still had a big population. The streets were crowded, not as much as Luca's streets (mainly in this time of the year, the Blitzball season), but crowded enough to make the two kidnapers walk there without having to act suspiciously. They arrived at one of the many Inn's in Bevelle and entered in one of the rooms.

- Hey, I did my job alone and still managed to do it faster than you two guys! - Marckus laughed as he got up from a chair and greeted his two companions. Lying in the bed, there was a body of an unconscious Yevonite priest. Josh dropped the bag he was carrying on the bed too, and revealed the priest that he and Celia had kidnapped.

- So, here they are... - Josh said as he stretch out his back, obviously tired of walking around with the priest o his back.

- Yep, two half-dead yevonite priests, perfect. - Marckus said, smiling.

- Two more for the club... - Josh whispered.

- Now you just have to do your thing and bring those guys back. - Celia said, as she lied on the bed.

- What are you doing? - Josh asked, looking at Celia disgusted.

- Resting...?

- You are... lying in the bed, along with two people that we had just kidnapped.

- So? - she raised her head to look at Josh.

- That is... weird, at the very least. - and said this he sited on the floor; Celia just laughed.

- Say, Marckus, when you brought us back it was with priests too, wasn't it? - Celia asked.

- Yeah. - he was now drinking from his bottle.

- Why this fetish for priests? - Josh asked this time.

- Fetish? - Marckus laughed - Nah... I don't like priests. I think that was the main reason.

- Oh, come on, you don't like anyone. - Celia joked.

- True, true... - Marckus gave a mouthful of his drink - But priests are this thing... They aren't just idiots like the rest of the people, they are,... eeeevil...

- And you're not? - this time Josh asked, also joking.

- And you're not? - Marckus asked back. - We all are, right? Bah, priests... deceiving everyone with their beliefs, preaching about what life is worth, covering their sins with their church. They do whatever they want, these demons can run around free and no one suspects a thing. - he punched the wall - They deserve to die.

- Oo... kay... - Josh was surprised with Marckus' sudden demonstration of hate towards Yevon.

- You're not gonna tell me they don't, are you? - Marckus got up - Priests, Yevon, Yunalesca, Zanarkand, bah... all lies, and you know that very well. These fuckers just keep feeding lies to the people over these thousand years, there is no crime if some priests are killed to bring people like us to life. - he putted the bottle back to his backpack - It's the least we can do... We are all evil, but we're also victims of this game.

- Victims? - Celia was now sitting in the border of the bed.

- Yes... Come on, what did we do to be on the middle of all this? One day I'm living my life in Zanarkand, in the next day I find myself in Spira, being hunted down like an animal by the priests and the Fayth.

- Now that you mention that, I guess that bringing those two guys back will cause the Fayth to go mad again, right? - Josh asked, unsure.

- Yeah, same old shit as always - Celia let out a sigh - But, hey, at least we get some action, right?

- Damn right! - Marckus shouted. - Let's bring them back!

--

'How much longer will it take?...'

'Impatient already? Ah!'

'Shut up, you...'

'Look, kid, we ain't gonna leave this place, so it's bett...'

'Right. And Zanarkand never existed. And Sin will never be destroyed. Why do you have to be so closed minded? Besides, we still don't know who that guy was.'

'Hhmm...'

'Come on, this time you heard the guy too!'

'Yeah, but don't put your hopes to high...'

'I wanna put the hopes high! If I can, why not? What do I have to loose?'

'Your sanity?'

'Oh, right, that is very usefull in here!'

- Not in here, but you might want to keep it in Spira.

'Wha...'

- Although being insane it's not bad at all...

'Wait. Who are you? Are you the guy who...'

- Yes, I'm the guy.

'Can you get us out of here?'

- Yep. Right back to Spira.

'Wait. First, who are you?'

'Who cares? Take me out of here!'

- That's why I'm here.

'Wait just a second!'

- Look, I know that it might sound weird right now, but I'll explain everything once we meet... face to face.

'Yes, it sounds very weird. You don't sound like the Fayth.'

- That's because,... wanna guess? I'm not a Fayth.'

'Yeah, yeah, whatever. If you wanna stay here, do as you want, old man. But I wanna go back, okay?!'

'If you ain't a Fayth why and how are you gonna bring us back to Spira?'

- I'll explain everything when you are back. Now we must hurry; if the Fayth knows about this we're toasted... Well, I'm toasted, the Fayth can't get you any worse, I guess...

'What? Why? The Fayth said that they were gonna bring us back. What the hell are you talking about?!'

- Yeah, right. The Fayth say a lot, but they only do shit. Some Fayth said the same to me, but if I had trusted him, I would be trapped in this place for ever. You will be trapped here for ever if you trust the Fayth. They said that they would help me, but they ended up trying to kill me... well, sort of, as I can't really be killed, like you guys.

'Explain that better...'

'I guess I'll have to wait until you are satisfied, right, old man?'

- Look, I don't really have time to explain here. We are from Zanarkand, we got accidentally attacked by Sin and ended up in Spira. The Fayth didn't like it and now they are trying to keep us caged in here. I bet that they said to you that they were trying to find a way to bring you back to Spira, or whatever... That's another lie, they'll just keep saying that for ever, and you will never get out of here. Unless you trust me. I'll give you the whole story when you are here, in Spira. But if the Fayth finds that I'm talking to you... bad things will happen, for all of us.

'That's enough for me.'

'You are from Zanarkand too?'

- Yes... Really, trust me. Why would I want to hurt you, or make something bad to you? I know how you are right now, I have already been trapped here. Besides, there are more people like us, they were in this place too, until I managed to bring them back, now they are living in Spira.

'I guess... that's enough for me too. Do whatever you have to do to bring us back'

--

- Ya'll ready?!

- Yeah!

- Let's win this tournament!

- For Tidus!

- Yeah!

The Aurochs were all excited about this year's Blitzball tournament. After last year's victory, they practiced harder than ever to try to win again this year.

- What's our goal? - Wakka shouted.

- WIN! - the team screamed, making their room the loudest locker room in the whole stadium.

- Hey, Wakka, if you keep doing that you'll be out of energy during the game! - a woman laughed, making the team turn around to the door.

- Yuna! - Wakka exclaimed, as he walked to hug his 'little sister' - You came!

- Of course I did. - she giggled. - I never missed a game, did I?

- Hey, look at you... How long have you been out?

- I... don't know, I...

- We missed you in Besaid, yah? - he said as they both sitted on one on the benches of the room.

- I missed you too, but... - she lowered her head, not knowing exactly what to say.

- Hey, let it be... I understand. - he said, putting one hand on Yuna's shoulder.

Yuna looked to him and smiled.

- Thank you.

- Hey, capt'n! I found the games schedule! - Datto entered in the room with a paper on his hand. - Our first game is in two hours, and we have another tomorrow.

The Aurochs began to talk all at the same time, excited to finally know who they were playing against in the first phase of the tournament.

- You didn't know your games yet? - Yuna looked surprised, as usually the players knew the games some time after the tournament actually begins.

- Hey, we've just arrived here in Luca! We had to delay our boat one day because Keppa had disappeared! - he justified.

- Disappeared? What happened? - Yuna looked concerned.

- Don't worry, nothing special. - Wakka laughed - The guy just happened to fall in the river, and ended up in a cavern that exists behind the waterfall!

- What waterfall? - Yuna didn't remember having a cavern behind any waterfall in Besaid.

- Oh, you know, that big one that is on the way to the village. Who would know that Besaid had caverns, yah? Anyway, Keppa accidentally ended up inside that cavern, we looked for him during the entire day, but he only showed up almost at night, so we had to take the boat to Luca in the following day. - Wakka stretched and looked to Yuna – So... how've you been?

- Good... great, actually. - Yuna leaned to the wall - It's being good to have a break from Besaid... Being with Rikku and the guys is great, and I feel, more... - she closed her eyes. - I don't know... free, maybe.

- Great to hear that. Me and Lulu were worried about you, that you would continue to stay like, hmm... - he wasn't sure of what he should say in order not to bring those bad memories back - you know...

- Like I was in Besaid, I see... - she opened her eyes and looked down - Don't worry, I'm fine, better, I guess...

- Hey! Let's go see Lulu! - Wakka suddenly stood up - I think she's outside, yah?

- Yes, let's go then. - she got up too and began to walk to the exit of the room.

- Hey, capt'n, we're you goin'? - one of the players asked.

- Don't worry, I'll be back soon. Just keep an eye on Keppa to see if he doesn't disappear again, yah? - said this, the whole team started laughing.

* * *

_End of Chapter 18_

New, chapter finally. I don't even wanna see how long I haven't posted a new chapter... Anyway, good news: my exams are over! Finally! I'm officially on vacations from now on! And that means that I have a lot more time to write, so, you can expect new chapters more often :D


	19. Newcomers

Part II

**Chapter 19**

* * *

'Where... Am I?'

He woke up and opened his eyes slowly due to the intense luminosity of the place he was (wherever that was). Getting up, he stretched his arms and looked around; looked like some sort of a room. The single window was opened, hence the luminosity; there was a couch and a small table. He gave some steps towards the window, but then noticed another person. A man, lying (sleeping?) on the same bed as he was; he looked familiar, but he was too dizzy to think clearly.

'Wait... What?!'

He felt like he had been punched in the stomach as he realized everything around him. The room, the man, the light, himself standing there. Was he really there? 'Did it work?' It must have worked! Unless he wouldn't be there, right? He looked at his hands, and then to his arms. They were solid, complete. Then he made sure that all of his body was there. And it was; he wasn't fading. He was really there.

He sited on the bed again and looked to the man. It was Ject, his old man there. He couldn't believe in his eyes.

- I'm back! - he shouted, has he got up in a jump of pure happiness and adrenaline. He walked to the window and watched the world outside. It was a city, a big city. From there he could see people on the streets, walking and running, busy with their own lives, among them some priests. The buildings were all tall and most of them were white or bright colored. He remembered seeing some place similar to that 'Now, where was it?...'

- Bevelle again.

He was so concentrated on his thoughts that the sudden voice behind him almost made him jump with fright. He turned back to see that his old man had waken and was now standing. 'Bevelle! That's it!' He remembered: when trying to stop that marriage, it was in Bevelle; he didn't see a lot of the city back then, but enough to identify those white yevonite buildings.

- Eh, calm down, I didn't mean to scare you.

- Ject?

- Hmm. - he nodded - Son?

He nodded back. They had some moments of silence, both looking to the ground, none of them knowing what to say.

- I can't believe we're back. - finally Ject broke the awkward silence.

- Neither do I... But... We are. - He raised his head. - Now you believe! This way back... It worked!

- I guess I really did. I'm... impressed. - He raised his head to his son, but then he just looked back down to his hands - I don't know what to say… or think.

- Yeah, I...

They were both extremely confused. It felt like just moments ago they were in that strange sort of place, and now, there they were. Spira! Walking, talking, breathing. Alive; and the most important: real. They tried to think about what to do next, but it was impossible; the possibilities were just too many. Tidus walked to the window and looked to the city again.

- Bevelle... - something didn't make sense - Why are there so many priests?

- Well, Bevelle is the capital of... - Ject started, but Tidus interrupted him.

- Yeah, yeah. the capital of Yevon and religion and that stuff... but, I mean, there is no Sin anymore…. Right?

- Good point... - Ject was also too immerged in his own thoughts to think about that right now.

'Why are here so many priests? How much time had passed since?...'

Another punch in the stomach. How much time had he spent on that place? He began to panic when he realized the impact that time had on... everything. How had Spira changed while he was gone, how had the people changed? The people... 'Damn!...' Memories of the pilgrimage assaulted him: the Al-Bhed boat, Besaid, the Blitzball tournament, the Calm Lands... and his companions during all those moments, Wakka, Rikku, Yuna... 'Yuna!' Where was she? Was she alright? 'Does she still?...' Memories of his last moments with them, in the ship's deck, what she said back there... The sound of her voice, marked, painted permanently on his memories... Were those words still valid now?

- Hey, ahm... are you alright, boy? - Ject asked, waking up Tidus form his thoughts - You got all pale suddenly.

- Yeah, I.. ahm... - he sited on the bed - How much time did we spent there?

- I don't know... I haven't thought about it. - now Ject was the one looking through the window - Hhmm... If there are still priests, I suppose that we haven't missed a lot.

- I hope you're right... - Tidus said in an almost inaudible murmur. He sited on the bed, trying to decide what to do next. His first impulse was to run to Besaid, to try to find Yuna. 'Does she still lives there?' But he was as scared as excited to meet Yuna; how would be her reaction to him? To his presence in Spira (considering that he should be dead...)? And again, her last words to him echoed in his head. He gave a loud frustrated sigh and laid on the bed.

- Shouldn't you be jumpin' around in happiness, boy? - Ject turned his back to the window and looked to Tidus, confused.

- Yeah, but... - Tidus sited down on the border of the bed, with his elbows resting on his knees and his eyes on his hands - this is all too weird. I mean, I'm happy I'm here, but now I feel kinda lost...

They heard the door opening and turned around to see who it was. They saw a tall man, slightly pale with black hair and a scar on his right eye entering in the room.

- So, you're awake already. - the man greeted, with a mocking smile on his face. - Had a good sleep?

- Who are you? - Tidus asked, half scared and getting up.

- Hey, no need to be offensive, calm down, newbies. - the man laughed - Name's Marckus. Nice to meet you. - he took a small bow - One of you should be... Tidus, right? And the other of you should be Ject.

- Are you the guy who brought us back?... - Ject asked, also a little scared with the man.

- Yes, I am. Do I get a reward for that? - he joke, but neither Tidus nor Ject reacted. - Not even a friendly hug? Bah...

Then two other people entered in the room: a brown haired man and an aggressive looking woman.

- Already awake, uh? - the woman said as she looked at the two newcomers.

- Awake and breathing, yep. - Marckus answered. - Guys, these are Josh and Celia, Josh, Celia, those are Tidus and Ject. Don't ask me which one is who because I haven't found that yet.

A moment of silence followed. Tidus and Ject were trying to understand what was happening, and Josh and Celia were inspecting them.

- So... ahm... I'm Ject. - he decided to start - who are they? - He asked Marckus, pointing to Josh and Celia with his head.

- They're our compatriots! - Marckus joked.

- Uh? - Tidus was getting more confused as every second passed.

- What he means in that we're like you guys. - the man named Josh talked as he walked closer to Tidus and Ject - People from Zanarkand who ended up in Spira.

Tidus sited on the bed again.

- You mean... the 'living Zanarkand'? Not the ruins?

- Yes, the city that never sleeps! - Marckus said with enthusiasm, but then sited heavily on the couch - The city that was never real at all!

- But how?... - he looked up to the people in front of him. They were from Zanarkand? His Zanarkand? How was that possible?

- What if we start from the beginning? - Marckus talked.

- Great idea. - Ject grunted, getting annoyed with Marckus arrogant attitude, as he leaned his back on the wall that had the window and crossed him arms on his chest.

Celia sited on the other end of the couch and Josh sited on the ground, both waiting to hear the story of Dream Zanarkand and the Fayth all over again.

- Let's start with the basics. - Marckus started - As you may know, the Zanarkand we know isn't the ruined city that rests here in Spira. Actually, our Zanarkand never existed at all.

- Now, the history lesson... - Celia said, impatiently.

- Yes, the history lesson - Marckus looked to Celia with a mocking smile - Maybe our friend here wants to explain it to our newbies? So she doesn't get too bored?...

- I pass... - Celia answered and closed her eyes.

- So, where was I? - Marckus continued - Yeah, right, Dream Zanarkand. About a thousand years ago there was this huge war between Bevelle and Zanarkand...

- The Machina war... - Tidus said.

- Yes. I guess you've heard of it before here in Spira right? - Marckus asked; both Tidus and Ject nodded. - So, during this was, Zanarkand was destroyed and by the same time, Sin appears for the first time. People think that Sin is a punishment for the war, for the misuse of machinas or whatever... But the truth is that Sin was the last attempt of Zanarkand to survive... The leader of Zanarkand gathered the few survivors of the city to summon the most powerful aeon ever, so that that aeon could protect Zanarkand.

- They summoned Sin. The people of the real Zanarkand become Fayth, and Yevon summoned Sin... - Tidus talked - Yeah, we know that part of the story.

- What?... - Marckus looked surprised, or even shocked. Josh and Celia showed similar reactions - How do you know that?

- The Fayth told us. - Ject informed - We know all that. Yevon summoning Sin, Sin destroying Bevelle and Zanarkand, then Yevon summons the city... Yeah, we have already had some 'history lessons' before.

- I must admit, I'm surprised. - Marckus changed his position and was now with his elbows on his knees and his head resting on his hands. He was staring at the two newcomers, curious. - Why did the Fayth told you that?

- Because they wanted us to know the truth, I guess. - Ject answered.

- Why wouldn't they tell us? - Tidus asked.

- Hmm... - Marckus was thinking.

- They never told us. - Josh talked. - Only Marckus... and now you.

- What more do you know? - Celia asked.

- We know that our Zanarkand wasn't real, and we weren't real either. Also, the only way to really defeat Sin was to end the dreaming of the Fayth. - Tidus talked.

- And the whole Sin thing... like, the fact that he reborns because he takes over the final Aeon, and all that stuff... - Ject added.

Marckus woke up from his thoughts.

- Looks like you know a lot. Really a lot. But why would the Fayth want you to know the truth?...

- So we could kill Sin! - Tidus said, enthusiastically. Marckus, Josh and Celia looked at him, incredulous.

- Yeah, right. - Marckus laughed - Now, seriously, why did they told you all that?

- What's the problem with killing Sin? - Ject asked, confused.

- None that I know about. But I never thought that the Fayth would do that... - Marckus said.

- Well, why not? - Tidus asked, almost rhetorically - It worked.

Now everyone in the room (except for Ject) was staring at Tidus.

- What? Did I say something?... - he was confused with all the sudden stares and incredulous looks he was receiving.

- You're saying you defeated Sin? - Celia asked, with a bit of sarcasm on her voice.

- Like, for real? - Josh added.

- Yes... - Tidus said, carefully.

There was another moment of awkward silence in the room.

- That's impossible. For that you would have to defeat Yunalesca and then Yevon himself. - Marckus finally broke the silence.

- Well, I did! - Tidus shouted - I mean, we did!

- You guys did it? How? How could two men defeat such power? - Celia asked, not believing in what Tidus was saying at all.

- I didn't make anything. - Ject said immediately.

- No... not me and him. - Tidus continued - I was a guardian of a summoner from Besaid called Yuna. It was her and the rest of the guardians who did it. We fought against Yunalesca and...

- Wait, you're saying that Lady Yuna really defeated Sin?! - Marckus couldn't believe in his hears.

- Well, yeah. You know who she is? - Ject asked.

- Everybody knows who she is. - Josh answered - She's Spira's greatest heroine!

- Well, duh. - Celia added - She defeated Sin forever, and came out of the fight alive... or at least she says so.

- We didn't believe in her... I mean, we know that the only way of defeating Sin was to beat the crap out of Yunalesca and Yevon... - Marckus talked - But we never believed that she had really done it.

- Why not? - Tidus asked, standing up.

- Because it was too much for just one summoner, you know? - Marckus said - Also, how would she know how to defeat Sin? She is just another Summoner trained by the priests to obey blindly to the teachings... and the teachings say to go to Zanarkand and summon the final Aeon. Period. I believe that being a rebel to the religion isn't thought at the temples.

- Hey, don't say that! - Tidus said, half angry - Yuna isn't any... blind Yevon follower! She's smart, intelligent, okay? She really did it!

- I guess... - Marckus said, ignoring Tidus' offensive attitude - I'm impressed, once again. Really. I think it all makes sense now...

- Yes... - Tidus said, calming down.

- Hmm... So, Seeing that you already know about the Dream/real Zanarkand thing, I think we can skip some chapters of the history lesson - Marckus said, re-starting the previous conversation - We all in this room once lived in Dream Zanarkand, we were part of that aeon-city. And, in some point of time, we all got transported to Spira when Sin attacked Dream Zanarkand.

- So, you mean that Sin attacked Zanarkand more times than the ones that brought me and Tidus to Spira?

- Yes. I believe that the first time was when I was brought to Spira... - Marckus answered - Sin attacked Dream Zanarkand for the first time 700 years ago; then was when I got to Spira. Then Sin attacked again 400 years ago, then 11 years ago... and the most recent, and last attack, was made about 1 or 2 years ago...

- The first attack brought Marckus. - Celia informed - The second brought me, the third brought Josh and you - she said, pointing to Ject - And the last one brought you back - she looked to Tidus.

- Me and Josh? - Ject inquired.

- Yeah... - Josh got up - We were on the same Blitzball team, remember?

Ject looked to Josh, inspecting him; and then he remembered why he looked familiar. He played for the Abes!

- Yeah, I remember you! - Ject said, incredulous. - I thought that I was the only survivor!

- So did I. - he said.

- Well, family reunions for later, okay? - Marckus said - I say we should leave Bevelle for now.

- Yes, we don't want any guards coming after us again... - Celia agreed, slightly amused with the thought.

- What? Guards? - Tidus asked.

- Eh... We might have some trouble with two missing priests in Bevelle... - Marckus laughed - I'll explain it once we're out of town... I wanted to explain it today, but we wasted enough time talking about Lady Yuna. Let's go now.

- Wait! About Yuna, do you know where she is? - Tidus asked - And how much time had passed since she defeated Sin?

- I have no idea about where she might be. - Marckus answered as he got ready to leave - And, it passed about 1 year and a half since Sin's death.

- Ready to leave? - Celia asked.

- Let's go! - Marckus got out of the room, followed by Josh, Celia, and finally Tidus and Ject.

* * *

_End of Chapter 19_

Hey, I'm back... sort of... I think I owe you (all the people who have been following this story) an explanation to the fact that I said that the new chapter wouln't take a long time, and then just post it a month (or more, I'm not sure) later. A disaster happened; my lovely PC died! RIP... So, besides thet fact that I've lost all my stuff (including a new chapter for this story (the first version of this one that you've jusst read))I have to use my old computer (a.k.a. 'the slowest computer on Earth') to write the story, but just the thought of turning that thing on sucks the patience out of me (try watching a snail's race in slow motion, that's the feeling). And more: I don't even dare trying to connect this PC to the Internet, so I have to access the Internet in a NetCafe (or WebCafe, whatever). But I did it, I wrote this chapter! And hopefully I'll borrow a PC from my father soon, so I hope that the new chapter will be up soon... but I can't promisse anything!

Anyway... Woooooot! Tidus is back!

Enjoy :)


	20. Ruled By Secrecy

II

**Chapter 20**

* * *

She heard it. Finally. After months waiting, she finally heard the whistle. Not any whistle;_ his_ whistle, calling for her. She froze in her place, unsure of what to do. "Is it really him?" She decided that she didn't care; it was his whistle, that she was sure.

Another whistle.

Her legs began to run, almost as an instinctive reaction, towards the sound. She didn't know where it would lead her, but that didn't matter. She continued running, hoping, until she reached a familiar place... Besaid, the center of the village as it was one year and a half before. Standing there, in front of the temple, a huge flying beast called for her. Valefor.

She forgot about the whistle and walked closer to her first Aeon. But before she could reach the Aeon, the piercing voice of Rikku made her turn around.

- Then, let's help it to come back!

She turned to see Rikku, but there was nobody there. She stood there looking to the empty space, until she remembered Valefor, and turned around, to face the Aeon. But he wasn't there either. In his place, there was... someone. She couldn't see who it was, it looked just a blurry image of a person. It looked like a man, slightly taller than she was; she could see him better now: he had black hair,...Marckus? No, he was blonde now,... it is_ him_!

Her heart raced and her eyes were filled with tears as she saw Tidus standing there, looking at her with that dazing smile on his face. Just like in the airship, during those last moments they spent together, she didn't think; again, her legs began moving on their own, running towards her lover, who was now with his arms opened to receive her. And just like that day, she just passed trough his immaterial body, landing on the dirt floor in front of the temple.

Why? Why this was happening all over again? Why did he had to disappear, and let her fall miserably again? The tears that were on her eyes, initially joy tears, came down on her face as an involuntary act of despair. Now, it wasn't about him leaving, it was about him leaving her _again_. How was she supposed to handle that? One time had almost killed her, and now, it was happening all over again. It was over. She didn't care anymore, this time she would certainly die; she would find another way to end her life, and this time it would work. With her last strength, she got up. She was uncertain if she should see him again, if it would only make things worse. The hell with it! She had already decided that her life was over.

So, she turned around, to see the last thing that she would expect to see. Tidus wasn't there anymore. In his place, there was another man. Marckus, staring at her, mocking her with his green eyes.

- Have you ever been in Zarankand, lady? - he asked, getting closer to her - The real Zanarkand; the one that's filled with life and light.

She stepped back, getting scared with him. And where did Tidus go?

- Was is some guardian of yours? Of course, I'm assuming that Tidus was your guardian, right? - Marckus continued. She tried to run again, but this time, away from the man. She run, but his voice was still in her head.

- I know many things... - Marckus words were echoing in her head as she run, terrified with everything that was happening. Where was Tidus? And Valefor? Or were they the same Aeon? Couldn't they save her from Marckus?

- I know many things...

Suddenly, she sited down on a bed, breathing heavily. Marckus' voice ceased. She looked to both sides of her, all her senses in alert, but she only found a dark room, slightly illuminated by the weak morning sunshine outside the window.

"It was just a dream..."

Just a dream. Of course; what was she expecting? Tidus was back? That could be nothing but a dream. She sited on the edge of the bed, burying her head in her hands, still breathing heavily. Calming down, she decided that she couldn't sleep anymore and got up. She looked trough the window; except for some workers, the streets were empty. It was weird seeing Luca like that, empty, silent, before all the craziness of the city started. She wondered how Zanarkand would be like in that time of the day; it would probably be crowded, after all, it was the city that never slept.

She got dressed and ate a small breakfast in a rush, hoping to be able to go out and walk in this rare peaceful moment in Luca. When she got out, there were already some more people on the streets, but nothing special.

She started walking, roaming without direction. She just wanted a moment to herself, to be able to think about things, to reflect. That was funny: only a day ago, she would try to avoid these empty moments at all cost; she always tried to have something to do, so she wouldn't have time to think about the past, the present and the uncertain future. But now she felt that she really needed this, to think seriously. A small sad smile appeared on her face, as she realized that now she had to make an effort to think seriously. Months ago she wouldn't think other way than the serious way: always thinking about Spira, Sin, making people happy, focusing on the Pilgrimage. And now, what? When was the last time when she stopped to think about what she should do? Recently, she didn't think about that, she just did things as they appeared to her. But now, she had to think about it; what was she going to do?

First things first. The first step would be going to see Marckus. Was he still in Djose? If not, it would be just a matter of time until she found him. And next... and next what? She could only think about two paths: Marckus wouldn't know anything about Tidus or he would. Simple as that. But then, what if he didn't know anything? What would she do? Search for more clues? Wait to hear the voice (Tidus' voice?) again? She gave a frustrated sigh. She had no idea of what to do. She was stuck because of Tidus, again. She should already be used to this: every night she would still be in despair about what to do in the following day, about how to face the following day without him. Even now, after more than a year, these thoughts assaulted her every day. Why couldn't she just move on? Get over it? She thought she was stronger than that. She thought a lot of things before he appeared in her life... If wasn't for him, she wouldn't be there, alive, thinking about those things! Suddenly, a quiet voice woke her up from her thoughts.

- Lady Yuna?

She looked around, trying to find the source of the voice, but the streets were as empty as they were before.

- Lady Yuna? - the voice said again. It sounded like a young boy - Here, in the deck.

She directed her look to one of the decks of the city, and saw a small boy dressed in purple vests, staring seriously at her. The Fayth. What was he doing there? He walked behind some crates and wooden boxes, so he was out of sight of the few people walking on the streets. Yuna followed him to a part of the deck that was hidden from the other people; there stood the little boy with his always-serious look and posture. Yuna stepped towards him, and crouched so her head was at the same level as his head.

- We need to talk. - he started.

- Yes, I agree. - this couldn't be more perfect to her: if there was someone who could give her answers, it was certainly the Fayth. But she still found weird that the Fayth came to talk to her, and that made her a little nervous. Also, she was afraid that she couldn't get her answers, even from the Fayth... what if he said that the voice wasn't Tidus? What if the voice was him, but he couldn't be brought back? Thinking about this, she was fighting her body's instincts to shake with these nervous thoughts.

- Lady Yuna, I know that this may sound weird, but I need to know if you have been talking to some sort of unseen entities.

Good, the Fayth was being direct, and going exactly in the direction Yuna wanted.

- Yes, I talked to a voice that appeared in my head - Yuna was trying not to listen to what she was saying, she didn't want to hear herself talking things that could easily lead people to think she was crazy. - It happened twice, so far.

- I see... - the Fayth looked as he was looking down (but it was impossible to be sure, as he had a big hood covering most of his head) - When was the last time you've heard the voice?

- It was... several months ago. In Besaid. - ever since she tried to contact the voice again, with no success.

- Months ago?... Are you sure you haven't talked to them recently? - he sounded doubtful.

- Yes... - the Fayth reflected again, but Yuna noticed that the Fayth didn't believe in her, but decided to say nothing about it.

- What did they tell you? - he asked again.

- They said that... - she stopped talking as she realized of something weird. After some seconds of silence, the Fayth talked.

- What did they say?

- How do you know there was more than one? - now Yuna was the one getting suspicious. - I only mentioned one voice.

- I know that there are two of them. - he remained calm, cold. - I must know what did they say to you.

- How do you know? Do you know who they are? - Yuna tried to lead the conversation back to her favor.

- That is of no interest to you. I really need to know what you have been talking about.

- That voice talked to me, so it is of my interest to know! - she was getting tired of having things hidden from her. First Marckus, and now the Fayth? What was going on? - He told me he was a dream of the Fayth, that he was once human, and he would come back.

One more moment of reflection by the Fayth. Yuna was getting annoyed with all this secrecy...

- You only talked about that? You didn't tell them who you are? - again, the voice of the Fayth was doubtful, but not as much as it was before.

- No, nothing more. - she answered with a sigh, and then decided to "attack" again - Who are they?

- Have you talked about this to anyone else? - the little boy ignored Yuna's question.

- No. - this lie was followed by one more moment of silence.

- Not even... - the Fayth started, but was unsure if he should finish the sentence.

- What? - Yuna's patience was running out. The Fayth gave a sigh and decided to finish the question.

- Not even with a man named Marckus?

That caught her by surprise. "Marckus? How does he know him?". Seeing Yuna's shocked reaction, the Fayth let out another sigh.

- You talked to him about it... - his voice seemed disappointed, and even a little scared.

- No,.. I... wait! - she got up, furious and confused. She gave some steps towards the opposite direction where the Fayth was standing, looking to the sea. What the hell was happening? How does the Fayth know about Marckus? What's the connection? And Tidus? Where was he in all this? Was he also hiding things from her? Was he really the voice? Why doesn't the Fayth just tell her who is the voice? The questions forming in her head were endless.

- Lady Yuna?... - the boy called her. - This is serious. I need to know what you know about this man, and what have you told him about the voices.

- Nothing! - she turned around and crossed her arms in a defensive posture; apparently she couldn't trust the Fayth anymore - I told him nothing! I just asked him to help me search for the meaning of "dreams of the Fayth", but I haven't told him about the voice. - she let out a frustrated sigh and tried to make a threatening voice - Look, I'm not telling anything more until you explain me what is happening.

- I see... I am sorry, I can't tell you more further. I won't disturb you anymore.

- Why not? - she tried to sound angry, but only managed to sound disappointed, desperate.

- I'm sorry. I'll only leave you an advice... Stay away from Marckus, he's extremely dangerous.

Yuna stood a moment speechless, a mixture of anger, confusion and despair filling her mind.

- I know that you want-

- Wait! - Yuna interrupted, this time successfully talking angrily - You come here, do this questions to me, tell me nothing and expect me to stay away from the only person who could give me answers?

- I know, it isn't fair... But, please, for your own safety; you have no idea of what Marckus is capable of, I've seen this happening before...

- Seen what? What is happening? - she was getting angrier as the seconds passed away.

- If Marckus found someone on his way, he just kills the person. Period. I've seen him slaughtering a whole temple once. Look, I cannot give you any more details. The more you know, the worse. If Marckus realizes that you know nothing about this, he will leave you alone. Otherwise, he will hunt you, and everyone who is with you. - he was now also angry, not with her, but with Marckus. - I'm really sorry, just stay out of this, and you'll never be bothered again. Promise me.

- What?

- Promise you will not get more involved in this. - the boy was staring up to Yuna's face, to her eyes, probably. Yuna stood some seconds silent, until she answered with a calm voice.

- Okay. - she simply said, looking to the ground.

- Please understand: this is to your own good. Getting to know more about this would only end up with you and your companions killed. You do not need this.

- You are right. I should stay out of it. - she gave a long and nervous sigh. - I'm sick of dealing with the secrets of the Fayth, or Yevon...

- Good, you should have no further problems or visits from me then. Stay well, Lady Yuna. - and with this, the small boy vanished in a column of pyreflies.

Yuna got out of the deck and started walking quickly towards the hotel where she and the rest of her friends were. The streets were now more crowded, and the sun was shining in the sky.

"I can't believe it worked." Did it really work? Did she manage to fool the Fayth so easily? She was getting better at lying. Her last intention was to do nothing about it, as the Fayth asked. For the first time in a long time, she felt alive. "There is really a connection between the Fayth and Marckus... and Tidus, maybe." She wanted to find all about it. She didn't care if it was dangerous, if she could die. None of that mattered anymore. If Tidus wasn't the voice, then she would embrace death happily; if it was him... she would find a way. She would face Marckus, the Fayth, and bring him back. She had no idea of how to bring him to Spira, or how to survive to Marckus (if he was as dangerous as the Fayth made him look like...), but he had died for her, and she was willing to die to try to bring him back.

The Fayth also warned her that Marckus could kill not only her, but who was with her. "That's okay, I'll go alone". It was her business, her personal quest to bring Tidus back now. And possibly, a suicidal quest. She wouldn't put anyone else in danger. She arrived at the hotel room where she and Rikku were, and found relief in the fact that her cousin was still sleeping soundly. Without making any noise, she grabbed any stuff she would need for the trip; when she was about to leave, she grabbed a pen and a piece of paper, and left a note on her bed.

"_I have something I had to do. I'll be gone for some time (days, weeks, months, I don't know)._

_Don't worry about me, and don't try to follow me!_

_Can't tell why, sorry._

_- Yuna_

_P.S. - Rikku, don't tell anyone about our conversation about the voice and "we-know-who"._ "

* * *

_End of Chapter 20_

New chapter, alright! This came sooner than what I expected, I think I'm getting to work better with this computer... I've learn some tricks to put it working a little bit faster :)

Anyway, I can't believe that I've already wrote the 20th chapter! Seriously, this is getting bigger than what I had imagined. Actually, I haven't imagined much when I started; I wasn't even sure about the main plot! I think I'm gonna change the description of the story, and even the title. Those were chosen when I had no idea about the plot of the story (lol, the description even says "I'll see what happens as I write" xD What was I thinking? I had absolutely no consistent plot when I wrote that!). Also, I don't know if this should be all in one story, maybe I'll split it in two, make a sequel. Like, the story has kind of two big moments; right now, I'm writing the first one. I think I'll write the "second" in a sequel, or this story will be too big. I'll think about it...

Anyway, enjoy!


	21. Idiot:Murderer

Part III

**Chapter 21**

* * *

The morning light shined trough the dense forest and inside Marckus' tent, waking him up from the dreamless sleep

The morning light shined trough the dense forest and inside Marckus' tent, waking him up from the dreamless sleep. He got out of the tent and stretched his arms while yawning quietly. Celia was already gone to Bevelle, and Josh and Ject should be on their way to Bikanel. That other guy, Tidus, should still be snoring inside his own tent.

Normally, Marckus would be annoyed if someone from the group asked to stay out of some mission, but this time he was glad that Tidus decided to keep his distance.

"He's an idiot."

If there was something that Marckus hated, it was idiocy; he hated when people around him refused to see the truth, to see what's best for them. "Stupid people die fast, and they deserve it" That was why he wanted Tidus out of the way: if he didn't care about himself, then he couldn't rely on Tidus to do the tasks needed... Like, stealing an airship, or killing some random people. "No, this kid can't handle it." He remembered how Tidus reacted when he mentioned that he was going to take the lives of 5 more priests; the shock in Tidus' face was priceless. Ject didn't like the idea too much either, but at least he joined Josh for a "less horrible" task. But Tidus? No, he just decided that he wanted to stay out, that he wasn't going to unnecessarily kill people just like that. Idiot.

Marckus started to pack his things on a small bag. He didn't care about what Tidus or Ject thought, those aren't "unnecessary kills"; if it wasn't for this occasional assassinations that he had to do, he (just as Josh and Celia) would be dead for a long time. And he didn't want Ject and Tidus to die too, not just yet. Tidus might be an idiot, but idiots are easy to manipulate, he could be of some use... And Ject, he was acting like an idiot too, but maybe he would join them after all. But Tidus? He was hopeless. Marckus couldn't believe that he actually died for another person! Who, in his perfect sanity, would give up his life so that other person could live? Only an idiot. As much as he believed in team work, in the end it was every man for himself. But maybe it wasn't entirely Tidus' fault. It seemed that the Fayth had a word on that story too. According to Tidus, they had told him to help them to cease their dreaming. And the idiot accepted! "I wonder if he realised that he was signing a suicide pact... Damned be the Fayth!"

"Controlling our feelings for so long... Pushing us into self destruction... First with me, and now with Tidus. Fuck them all..."

Meeting Tidus reminded him of his own experience, hundreds of years ago, when he was dropped in Spira. The Fayth tried to play with him, like they did with Tidus; they asked him to help them destroy Sin, to cease their dreaming. Fortunately for him, he realised that once the Fayth stopped dreaming, he would cease his existence too. That was when he rebelled against them, he refused to give up his life for the Fayth; Sin was there because the people from Zanarkand agreed to become Fayth, and to summon Sin. It was their choice. Marckus wasn't going to offer his life for the mistakes of other people. They tried to convince him, tried to show his the path that they considered the right one,... "Tried to convince me to pay for their mistakes. Tried to make me dream their dreams, to convince me that it was the right thing to do..."

He closed his bag furiously and got up, picking a piece of paper on the way.

"They tried to make me scream their screams... to suffer what they were suffering."

Writing something on the paper, he walked closer to Tidus' tent, and left the paper there, in a place where he could see it.

"They must have thought I was an idiot..."

But he wasn't. He ran away from the Fayth, to his own life... well, sort of. His life consisted on running away from the Fayth, and finding ways to piss them off. It was annoying at first, but now he had great fun with it. "And having an idiot like Tidus was a promise of a great load of fun" he thought, walking away from the improvised camp with a small smile on his lips.

--

Inside his tent, Tidus did all but sleep. How could he? He was back on Spira for three days, so far, and things weren't working the way he thought they would. First point: he didn't see Yuna yet. He was in Spira for three whole days, and he hasn't met Yuna yet? How could that be? Nor Yuna, nor Wakka, Lulu, Rikku or Kimahry... or anyone else who didn't fit in the "insane" category. So, let's see, he woke up in Bevelle, met three other people from Zanarkand (his Zanarkand!), ran away from a group of guards for no apparent reason, and was now hidden somewhere in Macalania... Or the place that used to be the Macalania forest. It was different, lifeless. The trees didn't shine anymore, the ground at his feet was darker... even fiends seemed to avoid that place. It felt... creepy.

Or maybe it was just the whole situation that was making him become paranoid... Yeah, that must be it. Last night (when those three semi-unknown people finally found a spot to make a camp) Marckus told how he brought him and his old man back, and said some more things about the Fayth that got him extremely confused. The words, coming out of Marckus' mouth, seemed so weird, so surreal... He spent all night gathering his thoughts, trying to connect what Marckus had said to the reality.

Apparently, what Marckus did was guiding his soul and mind to a real body, so he could live in the real world. He remembered, some time ago (or, he thought it was some time, although it was hard to tell how time passed when he was trapped in that weird "after-non-life" place) the Fayth had told him the same things: that he had a soul and a mind, but lacked a real body. So, what Marckus did was simply get a body for him, and guide his soul and mind to the real world.

It all sounded perfect. Even the part when Marckus said that he had to kill some one in order to have a body for his soul and mind to occupy... That didn't bother him; after all, it was a priest, one of those priests who supported those who condemned him (along with Yuna and the rest of the guardians) to a death in Via Purifico. And seemed fair, pay one life so he could live, so he could have a chance to have a real life in the real world. And, if it wasn't for him, Sin would be probably still roaming in Spira, killing hundreds of people. No, it was selfish, but he didn't care.

But then, things began to look uglier. Apparently, Marckus' survival relied on killing people and taking over their bodies; that was how he survived for hundreds of years: when he was getting old, he killed some one young, and transferred his soul and mind to the new body. Then his new body would adjust to the physical shape of his original body, and he continued living. Or, whenever he thought he was in danger, he would kill some one, so that if he was killed, Josh or Celia would transfer his soul and mind to a new body (and the same went to Celia and Josh's survival). That was why he said that he had to kill more people now... They were in danger.

Happens that the Fayth noticed Marckus' murderer activities, and didn't like it. And adding to that, Marckus said that the Fayth also didn't like to have some of their "dreams" walking in the real world, and tried to hunt them down. So, according to what he said, they (himself, Ject, Marckus, Celia and Josh) were doomed to a live of running away from the Fayth. Fantastic. So, the plans for now were to stay out of sight of the Fayth; but to do that, there was something they had to do. Marckus somehow knew (he refused to tell how he found that) that he had been talking to a woman before he came back to Spira, and now that woman was also trying to find him and was probably working with the Fayth. So, their goal was to find the woman and make sure that she would stay out of the way between them and the Fayth. But then again, the solution to this didn't please him: she had to die. Simple as that. Seemed that the solution to all of Marckus' problems involved killing some one. "Murderer". He tried to argue, to make him see that they could just try to talk to the woman; but Marckus didn't change his mind. "I've seen it all before", he said, "We let them live, and then they just go tell the Fayth where we are. It's useless". What could he do? Marckus was right, if the Fayth caught them, they were dead; they couldn't take risks.

But even with the facts all shown, this whole situation still didn't make sense to him. Weren't supposed the Fayth be on his side? To help him? A Fayth said that he was going to get him (and Ject) a body, but now Marckus says that they are trying to kill him? What the hell is going on?!

Still lying on the floor of the tent, he gave a frustrated sigh, and decided that he didn't care. He just wanted to end this, to break every connection he had to Zanarkand and the Fayth, so he could live a normal life. It didn't matter how many people he had to kill, how many times he had to die. Even if he killed one hundred people,... that would be still a lot less than the amount of people that would die if Sin was there. "No, I shouldn't think like that..."

He gave another frustrated sigh.

"But do I really have a choice?!"

It was the only way... the only way to end this, to be able to return safely to his life, his friends,... and to Yuna. That thought comforted him; knowing that in the end, Yuna was there. Even if she didn't love him anymore, she would be there, and he could see her again, see that she was there, alive, touch her, even if only in a friendly hug...

"If she doesn't love anymore, if she had found someone else..."

What would he do? He didn't feel like he could ever be happy without Yuna on his side anymore. No, he couldn't think like that. She loved him when he left, so there was a chance that she would still love him now.

He kept thinking about her, how will it be when they were together again,... he would hold her close to him, to make sure that could never be separated again...

And finally, he was able to fall asleep.

* * *

_End of Chapter 21_


	22. Forced To Obey

III

**Chapter 22**

* * *

Although they were walking in the desert for hours, almost two days, the sandy landscape never seemed to change

Although they were walking in the desert for hours, almost two days, the sandy landscape never seemed to change. Fortunately, they decided to do the travel during the night, when the heat of the sun was far from their skins; but, against all he had thought, that big sand box was horrible even during night time.

"How can a place be hotter than hell during day, and a freaking freezer at night?"

He was wearing some layers of clothing, but sometimes he still felt a cold shiver going down through his spine. But, despite the time of the day, what was really pissing him off, was the never ending sand at his feet and sight. Night or day, there was always the same dunes, the same sky, the same sand entering trough their clothes... Ject was starting to doubt if Josh knew where they were going.

- You sure we're on the right track? - he finally asked.

- Yes. - Josh asked, with a grunt.

-You don't sound very confident...

-I'm pretty sure we're on the right way. Be patient. - he answered, clearly annoyed and without stopping walking of looking at Ject. What was wrong with him? He remembered him from Zanarkand, from the Zanarkand Abes. Josh had always been a happy person and a good player. But back in Macalania, when they were making plans with Marckus and the rest of the group, he seemed different, he wasn't actually happy, but not sad either... he looked secretive, suspicious, and even a little scared. But that was no wonder... Ject himself felt intimidated in the presence of Marckus. That guy was insane; the way he talked, the look in his eyes, that creepy sadistic smile he always had on his face... he was a madman for sure. Ject actually felt relieved that he was doing this with Josh. But it wasn't that that Ject thought it was wrong with Josh... in that past two days, since they went to Sanubia Desert, he had been acting differently from his behaviour in Zanarkand or with Marckus. He was with a terrible mood, he hardly talked and was very, very impatient; like if he was doing that against his will. Something was wrong. And Ject was determined to find out what, so he had been talking to him to see if ha revealed the reason for that odd behaviour...

- How can you be sure of that? All I see is sand everywhere, there are no points of reference at all.

-That's because you're looking to the wrong place. - Josh said, and looked at his blitzball companion. Ject only answered with a confused look. - Look up to the sky.

They both raised their heads to the night sky of the desert. As there were no clouds at all, they could see every single star in the sky. Hundreds of stars, maybe thousands, shining in the dark sky, all of them randomly disposed in the Universe, but some of them seemed to create patterns, figures; constellations. A true natural masterpiece of art.

- The stars can tell us lots of things. - Josh said just loud enough for Ject to ear.

- So, you travel according to the stars? - Ject had already heard about night orientation trough the stars, but he never seemed to understand how it worked.

- Yeah. - they started walking again - I learnt some things about it in Zanarkand... you know, when we went to practice in the sea. I used to talk with the captain of the ship, and he taught me some basic stuff about night orientation.

- I see... - Ject answered and directed his look to Josh, who was still looking up to the stars.

- Makes you wonder, eh? - he asked, with an enigmatic expression on his face.

-Uh? What?

- You didn't notice? - Josh finally looked at Ject. - the constellations here in Spira are the same that appear in our Zanarkand.

- Okay...- he had no idea where Josh was trying to get with that.

- Don't you see? Thet means that our Zanarkand really existed! - Ject looked puzzled - I mean, not really in the sense that it was... you know, real; it was still only a dream. But the place where the city was summoned by Yevon might really exist in this world.

- I see... - He had never thought about it, but now that he was thinking, it was a good idea. He had always considered that his Zanarkand was in some kind of parallel dimension or something like that. But this would explain how Auron and himself while Sin could travel between Spira and Dream Zanarkand.

- Well, anyway - Josh talked again, returning to the bad mood - We're supposed to go to the ruins of Home, and we're going in the right way.

- To steal an airship, right?...

- Yeah.

They continued walking. Ject thought, for some moments, about that theory about Zanarkand, until he remembered that he hadn't found out the reason for Josh's bad mood.

- So, we need that airship to hunt some people, right?

- Right. - he said with a grunt again. Just minutes ago he was excited about Zanarkand, and now he was all angry again. Ject wondered if he was bipolar.

- Is it so bad that these people know about us that we have to kill them?

- You know what Marckus said...

- Yeah, but... -but he didn't trust Marckus at all. - I mean... What's your opinion about all this?

- Does it matter?

- Well, since we're gonna kill people, I guess we all should have a word on this. Besides, as far as I understood, those people don't really know about us, it's just one of them who talked to Tidus, right?

- Yes but that person... she, can talk to the Faith easily and if they work together, they can find and kill us ... We don't want that happening, right?

- How do you know that she will help the Faith? She doesn't know that much about us anyway.

- She will talk to the Faith, I'm pretty sure about it.

- How do you know? - how could he be so sure... maybe he knew who she was. - Do you know who is she?

- Yes. I mean, No! I mean... - "Shit, I talked too much" - We, ahm, have a clue.

- Really? Who is she, then?

- She's... - Josh was trying to hide the embarrassment - Nobody. She was just at the wrong time, talking with the wrong people. Sorry, I can tell no more about it.

- Why not? - Ject was now angry - I thought we were all in this trouble together;, I should have the right to know what you guys know!

- Sorry, Marckus told me to keep secret. For your own safety. - he answered defensively.

- For my own safety? What the hell is that supposed to mean?! - Ject was getting red with anger.

- You and Tidus are both new to all of this, you don't understand... - he turned around to Ject - Look, I want this as much as you do. I wished we didn't have to kill her, but , unfortunately, we have to. When this is all over, I'll explain it all to you, but until then, we follow Marckus' orders.

Some tense seconds of silence passed away between them. Ject was as angry as confused. Follow Marckus' orders? Since when he had become his boss?

- Why do we have to do as Marckus says? Don't we have a head of our own? - Ject inquired, crossing his arms.

Josh let out a long sigh.

- Marckus is crazy, he's an idiot, and a sadistic bastard. But he always knows how to solve these troubles... - "Even if he's the one causing them..." - And, he is the only one who knows how to transfer a mind and soul to a body, he's the only one who can keep us from going to the Farplane. If we piss him off, he might just let us die.

"So, he is forced to obey Markcus' orders because he's afraid of him... "

- Let's just end this. - Josh said, as he started to walk.

--

Apparently Josh's orientation was right, as the two men arrived at the ruins two hours later. The remains of a once huge building rested in the sand; big rocks were scattered everywhere, burnt wood could be seen everywhere as well. Ject had never seen the building when it was still in one piece, but by the dimension of the ruins, he could guess that it was a very big construction. He wondered how the Al-Bhed managed to build that in the middle of nowhere. They walked inside one of the many rooms in ruins, and rested there. Their plan was to wait for a group of Al-Bhed, catch them by surprise and steal their airship. It should be easy, as groups of Al-Bhed were always stopping by their destroyed Home to look for parts of machinas that they could use on their airships and gadgets; and, usually, the groups were small, about 3 or 4 people, so it should be easy for Josh and Ject to do their task.

They didn't have to wait for long until an airship landed near the ruins and two men walked out of it.

- Okay, let's go. - Josh said as he and Ject grabbed their weapons (a big sword for Ject, and an Al-Bhed rifle for Josh) and started walking towards the men. - Hopefully those two are the only crew of the ship, but just in case there are more inside, we better make as less noise as we can.

- You scare them with that gun you have, and I'll make them uncounscious if needed. - Ject wanted to make sure that they won't have to kill them too.

- Sounds like a plan. - he agreed.

They moved closer to the Al-Bhed men, hiding behind the piles of rocks that separated them from their targets.

- Tysh, fa ynnejat zicd eh desa. - one of the man said, with a worried expression.

- Oayr, E drehg dryd airship fuimth'd mycd uha suna sema mega drec...

- What the hell are they saying?... - Ject asked to himself, but loudly enough for Josh to hear.

- Shhh!...Who cares?

- Alright, sorry.

- Listen, they look like they don't have any guns or weapons... I'm going to show myself to them and point my riffle at them. If they surrender, good. If not, you come to scene and do your job.

- Roger.

- Oui drehg fa'na kuhhy veht dra lypma rana?

- Oayr, ed'c hud rynt du veht, E kiacc.

- Drec bmyla ryt paah cu bmihtanat mydamo, dryd E tuipd dryd drana ec y mud mavd oad... - the man said, looking around, as if he was looking for something.

In that moment, Josh stepped out of the rock he was hiding, pointing his riffle to the Al.Bhed duo, and shouted:

- Don't move!

- Fryd?!

- Fru yna oui? - the men were terrified. One of them didn't move, the other raised his hands, but was now slowly putting them down.

- I said, don't move! - Josh shouted to the man ha had raised his hands.

- Oui ryja ouin kih fedr oui? - the one that was petrified managed to ask.

- Cred. E mavd ed uh dra airship! - the other replied, annoyed.

- Shut the fuck up or I'll shoot you! - Josh screamed again. Hearing all this, Ject decided that it was better to step up too. He walked next to Josh, holding the big sword firmly with both hands, ready to use it if necessary.

- Tysh... - was all that one of the Al-Bhed man could say before Ject hit them with his fist and knocked them unconscious.

* * *

_End of Chapter 22_

I'm really sorry for the long time without posting any new chapter, but some troubles in the "real life" were keeping me away from writing. I even considered to stop this fanfic (along with other projects I'm involved in)... But, hopefully it's all solved already...

Anyway, I'm back :) And I hope you enjoy this new chapter.

And, if you're wondering about what the Al-Bhed men are saying, here are the translations (in the order they appear in the dialog):

_- Damn, we arrived just in time.  
- yeah, I think that airship wouldn't last one more mile like this...  
- You think we're gonna find the cable here?  
- Yeah, it's not hard to find, I guess.  
- This place had been so plundered lately, that I doubt that there is a lot left yet...  
- What?!  
- Who are you?  
- You have your gun with you?  
- Shit. I left it on the airship!  
- Damn..._


	23. Blind No More

III

**Chapter 23**

* * *

Their plan was ruined when they realised that the airship of the two al-bhed men wasn't functional. Josh tried to start the engines of the big machine, but it would only make a lot of noise, and then it just stopped. He repeated this process a couple of times until the engines didn't respond at all. And to make things worse, the al-bhed men had escaped, only Yevon knows how. They were stuck in that desert, lost in the Home's ruins for some days now. Fortunately, there was some food in the stolen airship, but it wouldn't last much longer for the two of them.

Inside the airship, they were trying to make some plan to get out of the desert, when they heard another airship landing close to the place they were. Ject immediately walked to one of the many windows of that airship to see what was going on.

- Seems like a ticket to get out of this sandbox - Josh said, cheerfully.

- Hhmm... just in time... - Ject said in a whisper.

- Come on. - Josh said, as he got up and grabbed his weapon - Let's see if their airship is any better than this one.

- W-wait, what? - Ject asked, confused - You wanna steal that airship too?

- What? You think that if we ask nicely they'll give it to us? - he asked back, sarcastically, and than laughed - You didn't think that we were just going to ask them to go back, did you?

- Hmm., well... - he said, embarrassed - don't you think we're in enough trouble already?

Josh looked incredulous at Ject, and said:

- Yeah, that's exactly why we shouldn't just talk to whoever is in that airship. What would we say? "Excuse me, but our thievery went wrong and we got stuck in the desert"?!

Damn, he was right. If they just tried to talk to these newcomers, they would probably be sent to prison for stealing an airship.

- Well, I guess we really have to do this the hard way.... - he surrendered to Josh's idea.

- Ah! - Josh laughed - You're gonna need to get rid of that guilty thought if you wanna live well in Spira!

Ject just sighed, resigned.

The two blitz mates got out and started walking towards the new airship. It was medium-sized and short in height (probably with only a couple of floors). The design was very aerodynamic, it looked like it could reach high speeds, but it was all flat at the top, like if the top area was all a big deck. It was all red, except for a logotype and some letters painted in both sides of the ship; it said SPC-YLV.

- Oh, no,.... this is bad... - Josh said, worried and both stopped walking.

- What? - Ject inquired. - Something wrong with this ship?

- Yeah. I recognise this design.... It's a military ship.

- I see.... - Ject wondered why there were military ships in Spira, while there were no wars; at least that was what he thought. - Is Spira at some war or something?

- Not really, these ships aren't used to fight in wars now. But they've become the favourite airships for the SPC... - Josh looked at Ject, who was obviously lost in that conversation - Sorry, SPC stands for Spiran Peace Corps, also known as the "Ex-Crusaders". Basically, when Sin was defeated, there was no reason for the Crusaders to continue existing; instead, they formed a new military group, the SPC. Their job is to keep peace in Spira, at the towns and stuff like that... In this case, it's a ship of the Youth League, hence that "YLV" part, it means "Youth league Volunteers".

- So, basically, they are the ones who will arrest us if they see us, right? - Ject concluded.

- Right.... - he was now thinking hard to make up a plan. Attacking the crew of the ship was out of question, the SPC were always armed (specially the ones from the Youth League) and travelled in large groups. Maybe the wisest choice in this case was to keep hidden. His train of thought was interrupted by Ject's exclamation.

- Look!

- Quiet, you want them to hear us?!

- Look who just got out of the ship! - Ject said, pointing in the direction of the people who had just walked out of the military ship. Annoyed, Josh directed his look to them, and , to his big surprise, he saw Marckus and Tidus, both holding a riffle like the one he had.

- What?... - it was all he could say.

- Hey! Over here! - Ject had climbed to the top of a pile of rock and wood, and was waving to his son and Marckus. Tidus waved back and said something to Marckus, who directed his look to Ject.

- There you are! - Marckus shouted.

Josh and Ject walked towards their companions and their airship.

- It seems that the desert didn't swallow you two after all! - Marckus said, laughing while giving a friendly slap at Josh's shoulder. Tidus was with a much more serious and worried expression, and just nodded his head to greet his father.

- How did you get this airship? - Josh asked, clearly admired.

- We were given this ship! Pretty nice, isn't it? - Marckus answered, proud of himself. - Come on, let's go inside so I can explain all to you guys.

The group walked inside the ship, to the main room where all the controls were in. Celia was there too.

- Hey, look who's here. - she said, mocking them, and then she showed them a journal - Congratulations, you made it to the first page of The Post.

- What?! - josh grabbed quickly the journal from Celia's hands and stared at it. It featured a picture of himself and Ject inside the stolen airship, along with a text whose title was "Al-Bhed Airship Stolen at Sanubia".

- How did this go to the news so quickly? - Ject was intrigued.

- Well - Marckus started, as he sited down on one of the chairs of the room - Apparently those two al-bhed guys who you knocked out were here just to fix their big airship, but they knew that he ship wouldn't be capable of making the trip out of Sanunbia, so they took a small emergency micro-airship inside the main airship. When you caught them, they used that emergency ship to escape and told the SPC everything.

- Of course! - Josh was now mad at himself. How didn't he think about that before? It was very common to have small backup airships within the main airships, for emergency cases.

- Don't be so hard on yourself, if it wasn't for that, we would never find you. Plus, we got this airship, that is way better than those crappy ships that the al-bhed use! - Marckus laughed.

- Right... - Josh sited on the ground.

- So, how really did you get this airship? - Ject asked, hoping he wouldn't hear the word "murder" in the way (apparently Marckus' way of solving things was always with violence...).

- It was pretty easy actually. We heard about the story of these al-bhed men, and then the SPC started to gather a team to investigate it. So we just pretended to be from the Youth League, and we volunteered to do the job!

- Some guys from the SPC are so naive that is almost impossible to believe. - Celia added - they didn't even ask for any ID.

There was a moment of silence, until Ject finally spoke.

- So, what now?....

- Now... - Marckus said - I think that our best option is to stay here. No one will come here in a while, after the news of those two al-bhed being stolen...

- We could make our plans here without anyone to bug us.- Celia added.

- I agree - Josh simply said.

Another moment of silence. Suddenly, Tidus, who had been silent and apparently distant from the whole conversation, and was still holding his gun firmly in his hands, spoke.

- I, ahmm.... I'll go out for a walk, to catch some fresh air... - he said, a little bit shyly.

- Alright. Don't waste too time, though. We have work to do. - Marckus consented.

- Sure, don't worry... - he said while walking towards the exit door of the ship.

When Tidus was gone from the room, Celia said:

- This kid freaks me out. - and then she remembered that his father was still in the room - No offence, Ject.

- None taken. - he said, almost in a whisper.

- We better watch out, I think he's getting paranoid or something. - Marckus added.

- What do you mean? - Ject didn't like the way the conversation was going.

- Oh, nothing special - Marckus said, defensively - I just think that he is too worried about all this... He needs to understand that what we do is for our own good...

Ject thought about starting to argue with him to defend his son, but he decided to stay quiet. He understood Tidus' paranoia. During the time he spent with Josh, Tidus probably spent with Marckus; that was enough to make anyone paranoid.

---------------------

After walking the first miles of the road, Yuna started to regret the fact that she didn't accepted a ride. Her feet were starting to hurt and she decided to take a break; she sited down on one of the many rocks that populated the Djose Highroad, and rested her head on the rocky wall. She remembered walking on this road before, during the pilgrimage, right after the failed Operation Mi'Hen; but making the same road again this time felt a lot different; maybe because she was alone, because she didn't have all her guardian fiends with her, she felt more tired. But she was almost there, just a few miles away from the temple where, hopefully, she would find Marckus.

She watched a few people passing by, most of them using some sort of mechanical transport, the same kind that she saw in the Mi'Hen Highroad; apparently, the Al-Bhed started using those and renting them to the people who didn't want to walk on the long Highroads. In Mi'Hen, there were still a lot of people walking, but here, she was almost the only one doing it. At the start of the road, she was offered a ride, but she refused; she wanted to walk, to have time to think. Right now, sitting on the cold rock, she thought about how Spira had changed so much, and how she had been missing everything.

"I guess I was too blinded by my feelings to see..." To see how the world changed around her, how the world was adapting to the freedom of not having Sin creating a constant wave of fear. "So many things have changed... Maybe I should have opened my eyes before..." She inspired, filling her whole lungs with fresh air, and then expired in a long breathe. Only then she realised that the world was really changing, that it wasn't all about him. People change, cities grow... even Besaid was now more that a small village! Only then, she realised that she had really made a difference.

"It doesn't feel empty any more" She felt like a hole in herself had just been filled up, and a wave of happiness invaded her. She killed Sin. For good. She was a heroine.

"How didn't I realised this before?" she asked herself, smiling. But she knew the answer; she was blind with sadness, with the thought of never seeing Tidus again, never feel his touch or see his childish smile... The smiled turned into a frown, and she mentally slapped herself. "This is the kind of thought that has been keeping me blind,... Let me be positive for a while" Positive thinking, it was that what she needed. For once in a lot of time, she was enjoying herself. And it wasn't the kind of joy she had while with Rikku, that one was just pleasant because she didn't have to think. This was different, she was happy because she realized that she was slowly healing from all the events of the pilgrimage. All the death and lies, deceptions and doubts; all that has been keeping her from enjoying the moment, enjoying being alive.

Even Tidus.

Was he worth all this? All the pain he caused her just for the fact of being absent, was it worth more than a year of depression, and an attempt of suicide? What was he? A friend? A boyfriend? Did she even love him, or was he just a violent passion? After all, he was a major reason why Yuna only opened her eyes now, more than a year after the world started to change.

Another mental slap.

Of course he was worth it! "Why am I thinking like this?" She was simplifying it too much. He wasn't just a passion, he was a lot more than that. It wasn't just about Macalania. During the whole pilgrimage her feelings towards him grew. First he was just a cute and nice guy who happened to be from Zanarkand. Then he became something more, a friend maybe. Anyway, he became enough for Yuna to want him to be her guardian. By the time when they were at Mi'hen, she was already falling for him. And from that point, things started to get really complicated. "It was... is a lot more than that kiss in Macalania". Anyway, he was definitely worth it all. Even this travel to Djose alone.

Getting up, se looked around her and, for the first time since the pilgrimage, she was not just seeing, but watching. Watching the rocks, the dirt path beneath her aching feet, a group of men in some of those weird transports in the distance; watching beyond the cloud of depression. She started walking again, hoping she would arrive to the temple before the day turned into night.

Just some minutes after she started walking again, the group of men she had seen in the distance faraway were now just a few meters from her.

- Lady Summoner! You want a ride? - one of the men asked, as the group stopped near her. She thought for a moment, and then decided that she was tired of walking.

- If it isn't too much trouble, I'd appreciate a ride. - she shyly responded.

- No problem, ma'am! - other of the men (who looked more like a teenager, and maybe he really was) said cheerfully.

With this, she sited on one vacant seat, and in a few minutes they were at the temple. On the way, Yuna found that they were a group of volunteers from the Youth League (hence the amount of young boys among the group) that were on their way to a rescue mission.

- Well, not really a rescue mission - one of the men (who, despite being one of the oldest, was only in his 20's) said with a laugh - there is some weird stuff going on, we're just going to investigate. These boys love to fantasise that they're great heroes.

- They're all heroes... - Yuna said, more to herself than to the man. Right now, she felt less heroic than these boys; at least they were enjoying their lives, and doing something productive to make Spira a better place, while she just spent her time trying not to become more depressed.

Arriving at the temple, Yuna quickly noticed that Marckus wasn't there. She was now sitting at the entrance of the temple, dealing with her disappointment and trying to figure out what to do. She had to start looking else where for him, but where? If she only had a clue...

- You okay, lady? - she was waken up from her thoughts by the same man that talked to her before in that day, the oldest men among the Youth League's volunteers and their captain. He looked worried.

- Yes, I am. I'm just a little tired, that's all. - she answered with a smile and raising her eyes to the man.

- If there's anything we can do to help, just ask! - he said, a little bit louder than necessary.

- Yes, thanks. - she said and nodded. While she wasn't being suspicious of the man's attitude towards her, she was still a little afraid that the Youth League didn't give up from trying to get her to join them. She recalled the awful days when she had to attend to all the Youth League captains and New Yevon priests bugging her to "join their cause".

The man walked away, and she decided that she couldn't stay there all day. She got up and walked towards the inn, got herself a room and fell heavily on the bed. On the side table, she noticed a newspaper. "Time to face the world"

Indeed, for the first time in a long time, she was really interested in knowing what was going on in Spira; what changed? What was happening in the world? "What have I been missing?". She rolled to the other side of the bed and grabbed he newspaper. It was the "Luca Post". She opened it randomly, reading just the titles. "Blitzball tournament opens with a blast", "30 new homes built in Kilika", "Secrets Revealed: New ancient spheres found near the temple of Bevelle". Most of these titles were followed by a big text and a couple of photos, but Yuna was too tired to read them all right now. She closed the newspaper, and decided that she was going to sleep, she would think about what to do later. But before she could put the Luca Post aside, something got her attention. The photograph of the first page. She could see a blurry man holding some sort of a riffle, and part of other man in a distant plan of the image. It was this second person who got her attention. Even with the blurry colours and contours, she immediately recognised a shape. A black pointy shape painted on one of the man's torso; the symbol of the Zanarkand Abes. She quickly read the article

" Al-Bhed Airship Stolen at Sanubia

Two al-bhed men who were on the ruins of their once big Home, were attacked and robbed yesterday by two unknown men. The al-bhed report that they were there to search for parts to fix their broken airship, when two men, armed with a riffle and a large sword attacked them, putting them unconscious.

"We had a gun, but I left it on the airship" one of the man said, and added "There was nothing we could do. We had one of them pointing us a gun, and the other just knocked us unconscious". "We woke up later on our airship" the oher al-bhed man told "we were tied up and alone in one of the bedrooms. Eventually we managed to break the ropes and escaped to our emergency ships". Before escaping, the al-bhed men took a photograph of their attackers [see "image 5"], and then fled back to Bevelle, where they reported the crime.

In the following day, a team of volunteers from the Youth League was sent to investigate what happened in the scene of the crime.

As for the attackers, no one knows who they are. According to the victims, one of them has a medium built body, average high and brown hair. The other was tall, apparently very strong and had some symbol tattooed on his chest, along with several scars; he has slightly dark skin and dark brown hair.

If someone has any information about these two individuals, please report at the nearest SPC station."

Yuna couldn't believe in her eyes. "Can it be?..." If she wasn't already lying in a bed, she would certainly fall to the floor. Her mind was racing at the sight of that symbol; and when allied to the physical description of the man... "Ject?!"

"No, it's impossible!..." She was trying her best to think rationally. Was there any chance that someone else knew that symbol? And had it tattooed on his chest? No, there's no way it has to be him.

But how?! That made no sense at all. Ject was in Spira, stealing al-bhed airships in the desert?! "It has to be some one else". But, again, who? Still staring at the article and struggling to understand it, she remembered something that the Youth league volunteers told her earlier in that day. They were going to the Al-Bhed's Home, to see what was going on with the other team of volunteers, who should be back from the desert already. She didn't have to think too much about it: she got up and ran outside, trying to find the group of young men of the Youth League. It wasn't too hard, as they were a lot and very loud. After talking with the captain, it was decided: she would go with the group to Sanubia tomorrow. The captain was more than pleased to have the High Summoner on his team, and she would have a chance to investigate further about this bizarre event.

After all the talking was done, she got back to the inn, and tried to sleep.

* * *

_End of Chapter 23_

I'm really sorry for the late update. But, hey, better late than never, right?

Enjoy! (and I'll try to update more often, I promisse!)_  
_


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